Flights of Treason
Queen Tesha is experiencing family issues, political challenges, and new doubts about her own maternal and magical abilities. She and her husband are rulers of a small realm which is subject to the Great King of the Hitolian Empire. The Great King is her husband’s nephew, and there has long been bad blood between them. Tesha’s daughter and her aunt, Tesha’s blind sister, possess sorcerous powers similar to the queen’s own. One or both of them have been magically communicating with dangerous and powerful griffins. Meanwhile, the Great King has been visited by suspicious emissaries from the rival Egaryan Empire, which further complicates the already precarious situation for Tesha and, indeed, all of the Hitolian people. Somehow Tesha must find a way to save her family and homeland.
This book, fourth in a series, is set in an imaginary off-world empire based loosely around the Hittites and Egyptians, though it is unlikely either of the latter two ever made use of sorcery or mythical griffins as extensively and prominently as takes place here. In one case, a beloved family pet described as having a “cat body, deer hooves, bat wings, and eagle head,” is effectively employed as an aerial intelligence collection platform to support a siege operation. Recommended for fans of all-powerful goddesses, nefarious spirits targeting young girls, majestic queens, magical priestesses, little princesses and talkative, but often dangerous, griffins.
