The Widow's Thorn

Nearly a year has passed since Esther Lanark fought the Witch of Glenaster, but she is still not safe.

As the ward of Lord Fyra, the empire's most powerful man, she has a comfortable life, but is effectively a prisoner, homesick and grieving for those she has lost, until one day an old friend appears, and tells her that Magnus, her brother, may still be alive - and that she is in greater danger now than she has ever been.

Esther realizes she has to leave the emperor's citadel and go on the run. But in a world where nothing is quite what it seems, who can she trust, and how will she escape, when so many people seem to want her dead?