Queen of Hearts

For almost three decades, the Mesmer regime ruled Qarash in the manner of most dictatorships: secret police, torture, and fear. But in the capital of Ashkareve, Mesmer enforced a stricter code known as the Pattern: Murder, and your hands become marked. Then Mesmer’s assassin, the black thing, hunts you down, kills your entire family. There was no murder in Ashkareve, except for those the regime made disappear.

The Damaskers, an underground resistance group, gave the operative known as Renue a charge: infiltrate the manor, Mesmer’s home, and steal the deed, the key to destroying the black thing. Renue was perfect for the mission, as both his parents were taken by the dictator. He had nothing to lose.

Renue slips into the manor in time for the Great Game, where all is bet, won, and lost. When he finds evidence his mother might have been kept in the manor, he compromises the mission, staying to discover what other secrets Mesmer still holds. Forced to flee as the regime crumbles, Renue escapes with the woman he believes to be his sister. But there has been a murder, and the black thing is hunting.