Votive

From bestselling author Karen Brooks comes a story of intrigue and deadly magic, when a gifted apprentice candlemaker, Tallow, morphs into an unwilling female courtesan and assassin.The second book in the epic romantasy series The Curse of the Bond Riders.

The stakes are high for apprentice magical candlemaker Tallow when the powerful Maleovellis become her patrons. Realising the apprentice they thought was a boy is actually a girl, they clean her, dress her in gorgeous robes, change her name to Tarlo, and tell her she is to practise her candle making for them alone.

Their patronage is not without advantage - they teach her to read, write, and give her lessons in history, science, politics, etiquette, and the ways of the aristocracy. But Tallow cannot know that they intend to use her to wipe out the royal bloodline and take the throne. Encouraged by the lovely and persuasive Giaconda, Tallow learns the arts of love, spying, disguise ... and assassination.

Yet, as the Maleovellis' fortunes change, she finds that flickering inside her are vague memories, fleeting and unstable, that taunt and challenge her apparent acceptance of her new life. When an old love returns and an attempt is made on Tallow's life, she must enter The Limen to live. Unexpectedly, someone else also enters - a new Bond Rider whose pledge is set to change the face of the world forever.