A Young Seer Gets a Mysterious New Opportunity In This Excerpt From The Half King

By Lacy Baugher Milas  |  November 13, 2024 | 1:00pm
Books Features melissa landers
A Young Seer Gets a Mysterious New Opportunity In This Excerpt From The Half King

If you spend any time at all in the world of fantasy publishing, you’re already aware of the popular juggernaut that is the “romantasy” subgenre. A delicious mix of epic high fantasy tropes and swoony-worthy romance, these sorts of stories are everywhere right now, and with good reason. The Half King marks the adult romantasy debut from YA author Melissa Landers and features many of the elements that make the genre so popular. 

Described as Lightlark meets The Sandman, the story has a bit of everything: A seemingly impossible quest, a forbidden love, a devastating curse, an intricate, lore-based, magical system, and the high-stakes threat of a kingdom’s destruction. The ticking clock nature of the story’s premise—-a seer must find a way to save the king before he literally disappears forever on his twenty-first birthday—adds compelling tension, and the extensive world-building is the sort that will make you long for the sequel that’s almost surely coming. 

Here’s how the publisher describes the story.

The Great Betrayal changed everything for the Allied Realm. Long ago, the kingdom’s noble houses rose up against the goddess… and for their treachery, the firstborn of each noble family was cursed.

One with perilous beauty.
One with destructive knowledge.
One with insatiable bloodlust.

But the royal house Mortara received the worst affliction of all. For while the king exists during the day, he fades into nothingness at night…until his twenty-first birthday, when he will be lost to the shadows forever.

Now an acolyte has arrived at court. Like all the second-born children of the Allied Realm, she’s destined to serve the goddess and become a Seer…only Cerise Solon has no gift of foretelling. In fact, she has no magical gift at all.

Instead, she’s surrounded by courtiers and priests—smiling sycophants whose hearts are filled with secrets and lies. And at the center of it all sits His Majesty Kian Hannibal Mortara, with his haunting eyes, sharp tongue, and an unerring ability to send her pulse skittering at the worst possible moments.

Falling for him is unthinkable. Because the king is the last of his line, and as the specter of his twenty-first birthday—and the full force of his curse—approaches, the kingdom holds its breath.

But there’s only one way to save a dying king… and it lies with the one person who’s hiding the biggest secret of all. Cerise.

The Half King will hit shelves on Tuesday, November 19, but we’ve got an exclusive excerpt from the story—along with a sneak peek at the sprayed edges and gorgeous endpapers of its deluxe edition—to help tide you over till then. 

The Half King sprayed edges

The Half King endpapers

As if on cue, the noise of swishing robes approached, and the Reverend Mother glided into the room wearing the polite smile she reserved for nobility. As High Seer, she outranked Cerise’s father, but noble families had deep pockets, and the temple couldn’t thrive on taxes alone.

“Welcome,” the Reverend Mother said. “May Shiera’s light shine upon you.”

Everyone dipped their heads, chanting in response, “And may her wrathful eye look away.”

Cerise sat in between her parents on the divan while Nina took the chair opposite the Reverend Mother. When everyone had settled, Cerise waited to hear the usual report regarding her progress or lack thereof. But as the Reverend Mother opened her mouth to speak, she gave a grunt of pain instead. Her posture slouched, both hands falling onto her lap as her head lolled forward.

Cerise extended her arms in front of her parents. “Don’t touch her,” she warned. “You’ll break the trance.”

“This is no ordinary trance,” Nina whispered, watching the High Seer begin to tremble.

Nina was right. Any force powerful enough to drain the Reverend Mother had to be a revelation, an incredibly rare gift. Cerise had lived at the temple since birth, and she had only witnessed the phenomenon twice. The process was more delicate than a soap bubble—one errant move and the spiritual connection would pop.

The Reverend Mother drew a raspy breath and spoke in a guttural voice that raised the hairs on Cerise’s arms. “As above, so below. The flame you seek to dampen will consume you.”

As Cerise leaned forward, eager to hear more, her  xother gripped her hand and squeezed it hard enough to grind her bones. Cerise wrenched her hand free. Glancing at her parents, she noticed they had paled. A revelation was a frightening thing to watch, especially for the first time.

“Don’t be afraid,” she whispered.

As abruptly as the trance had begun, it ended. The Reverend Mother snapped to attention in her chair, her chest heaving and her eyes wide with an emotion Cerise didn’t know how to read. The Reverend Mother had always been so perfectly composed that any display of feeling on her face seemed foreign.

“Your Grace,” Cerise said. “Are you all right? Do you want me to fetch a healer?”

The Reverend Mother peered back at her in an odd way, moving her gaze over Cerise’s features deliberately, like an artist trying to memorize a vanishing subject.

“Your Grace?” Cerise repeated.

“Come,” the Reverend Mother commanded, waving Cerise toward the exit. The Reverend Mother stood from her chair and told the others, “Please stay here and enjoy your refreshments. Cerise and I will return momentarily.”

Her parents traded a look of confusion but said nothing.

After Cerise followed the Reverend Mother out of the garden room and into the adjoining atrium, she lowered her voice and asked again, “Your Grace? Are you well?”

“Oh, do be quiet,” she dismissed. “I need to think.”

Cerise pressed her lips together. She should have fetched a healer without asking for permission. If she summoned one now, she would be guilty of disobedience and thus barred from the supper hall.

“Listen to me,” the Reverend Mother said. “I have an opportunity for you.”

At that, Cerise inclined her head. She had only received orders until now, never opportunities.

“You may remain here with me at the temple,” the Reverend Mother said. “But I do not believe this is your place. Today I learned that my oldest and most trusted servant has died. I believe your purpose is to replace her as the temple emissary to His Majesty Kian Hannibal Mortara.”

“The Half King?” Cerise blurted.

The Half King will be available on November 19, but you can pre-order it now.

Lacy Baugher Milas is the Books Editor at Paste Magazine, but loves nerding out about all sorts of pop culture. You can find her on Twitter @LacyMB

 
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