An emperor’s daughter who won’t be sidelined. A hesitant prince compelled to have a stand. In a world of blood and magic, a robust epic fantasy starts…

Just before her sixteenth birthday, Princess Katerina is informed she’ll not really be inheriting the throne of the Empire of the Ice-Bear–merely due to her sex. Married away to a international lord and exiled to a provincial backwater, she actually is having non-e of it–and murders her spouse on their wedding night. Determined to possess her revenge and about Gates of Stone regain the throne, she will demolish anyone who stands in her way. Katerina embarks on a perilous voyage in search of the prosperity and power she needs to attain her ambitious goals.

And in the Laut Besar, an area of thousands of islands, a pampered prince sets off on the mad search of his own–to recover the ancient sword of his royal dad. Prince Jun, aided only by his decrepit servant and a fisher girl, monitors the sword and the sorcerer who has stolen it and fled significantly across the islands. But Jun’s fate is drawing him toward the fabulously wealthy city of Singarasam, toward Katerina and a shattering turmoil that will change the span of the whole world.