Fleeing Peace

Siamis said, "Your young friend Liere is not going to enjoy the trap she's walking into, I fear. But you figured that out, did you not? Why didn't she listen to you?" 

"To snap her fingers under your nose," Senrid retorted. 

"Irresistible." Siamis smiled gently. "But it's going to cost." 

Fifteen-year-old Senrid is newly king of the difficult warrior kingdom Marloven Hess . . . just in time to lose it, and find himself running for his life. When Senrid is captured, he overhears a secret—one he can use against the enemy,  a charismatic, handsome man named Siamis who can read minds, and who enchants people just by talking to them. 

Liere can hear others' thoughts, and she senses the real emotions below the façade, which has only made her feel isolated from family and friends. When a golden-haired man named Siamis comes to her village and enchants the entire town around her, she finds herself on the run. 

Liere and Senrid couldn't be more different, but their goal is the same, to locate the powerful magic that will unravel Siamis's world enchantment. Chased by powerful enemies, Liere and Senrid are tested to the max as they form an alliance of kids to aid them, and gain magical support from surprising sources. Neither ever expected to discover something even more powerful than magic: friendship.

Written when Sherwood Smith was a teenager herself, Fleeing Peace is the first in the series that ties together all the kids who became the Young Allies against the coming Norsunder War.