Intisar Khanani

I've been cursed, betrayed, and sold into slavery – but the truth I carry can't be allowed to die. Only Rae knows the extent of the corruption at the heart of the kingdom of Menaiya, from the noble lord who betrayed her, to the Circle of Mages whose wards protect the slavers from discovery. Injured and imprisoned on a slave ship, Rae's options are quickly running out. When a desperate escape attempt goes terribly wrong, she finds herself indebted to a terrifying Fae sorceress. Now Rae will not rest until she has rescued her fellow prisoners and freed her land from the darkness that has taken hold. To succeed, she'll need every ally she can find—including Bren, the thief who may have stolen her heart. But Bren is hiding his own bloody secrets, and the curses that encircle Rae have sunk their claws into her mind. With her debts coming due and time running short, all the truths in the world may not be enough to save her kingdom, or herself.

In the kingdom of Adania, everyone knows what Princess Alyrra did to earn the court's contempt, her mother's disdain, and her brother's hatred. She betrayed her own. Yet, the truth hides another story, one of honor and honesty, of a princess gambling her own life for another's. It's a tale of courage and consequences, and a choice that can never be undone. A short story prequel to her multi-starred fantasy, Thorn, Intisar Khanani's "Brambles" gives Alyrra's account of what really happened all those years ago, and how a few critical days turned her life into a daily fight for survival.

A hunted mage. A cursed land. An impossible debt. When Hitomi first crossed the Burnt Lands to rescue her mentor from unjust imprisonment, the phoenix came to her aid. His price? Release the monster-riddled lands from the curses that have raged there for centuries—a fight more than a few mages have lost their lives to. Now Hitomi is back, her magic bound within her and the High Council of Mages’ best rogue hunters on her heels. Luckily for the phoenix, Hitomi’s not about to let little details like that keep her from paying her debts. But when an allied mage wreaks havoc with her plans, Hitomi plunges into a desperate race to stop the work she started. It will take every ally Hitomi can summon, and whatever tricks she has left up her sleeve, to divert the spells of the Burnt Lands before their cataclysmic power destroys everything—and everyone—in their path.

An unjust imprisonment. A rogue apprentice. One epic jailbreak. In the year since she cast her sunbolt, Hitomi has recovered only a handful of memories. But the truths of the past have a tendency to come calling, and an isolated mountain fastness can offer only so much shelter. When the High Council of Mages summons Brigit Stormwind to stand trial for treason, Hitomi knows her wrongfully accused mentor won’t return—not with Arch Mage Blackflame behind the charges. Armed only with her magic and her wits, Hitomi vows to free her mentor from captivity. She must traverse spell-cursed lands and barren deserts, facing powerful ancient enchantments and navigating bitter enmities, in order to reunite with old friends and plan a rescue equal parts magic and trickery. Pick up Memories of Ash now and join Hitomi on a spellbinding adventure through the gorgeously diverse world of Intisar Khanani’s Sunbolt Chronicles.

A relentless girl. A ruthless mage. A past that could destroy them both. Forty years ago, Riha's people bowed their heads in submission to the crown of the plains in exchange for their lives. Four years ago, Riha lost her parents in a rockslide, and learned not to trust in the false promises of tomorrows. But when she discovers that the crown’s woodcutters have traveled deep into her woods, Riha realizes they could destroy one of her people’s last hidden treasures. False promises or not, that isn’t something she can stand by and watch. When the queen assigns Lukai his first task as a full mage, sending him back to the lands his grandfather helped conquer, he promises himself he won't fail as everyone seems to expect. It's a simple enough mission: oversee the harvest of wood for the new royal palace… except the forest folk are known to be cunning and unreliable. When they start causing trouble, Lukai knows to respond with brutal efficiency. But when he takes a young woman hostage, promising her execution if her people don't cooperate, he finds himself hurtling toward a future he would do almost anything to avoid. Riha of the Woods is being released on a chapter-a-month basis to the author's newsletter and Patreon subscribers, with a full release planned thereafter.

The winding streets and narrow alleys of Karolene hide many secrets, and Hitomi is one of them. Orphaned at a young age, Hitomi has learned to hide her magical aptitude and who her parents really were. Most of all, she must conceal her role in the Shadow League, an underground movement working to undermine the powerful and corrupt Arch Mage Wilhelm Blackflame. When the League gets word that Blackflame intends to detain—and execute—a leading political family, Hitomi volunteers to help the family escape. But there are more secrets at play than Hitomi’s, and much worse fates than execution. When Hitomi finds herself captured along with her charges, it will take everything she can summon to escape with her life.

Rae knows how to look out for family. Born with a deformed foot, she feigns indifference to the pity and insults that come her way. Wary of all things beautiful, Rae instantly distrusts their latest visitor: an appallingly attractive faerie. Further, his presence imperils the secret her sister guards. But when the local townspeople show up demanding his blood, Rae must find a way to protect both her sister’s secret and their guest. Even if that means risking herself. The Bone Knife introduces Rae, the heroine of The Theft Of Sunlight (March 2021). Look for The Bone Knife at the back of your copy of Thorn (HarperTeen/Hot Key 2020).

Sometimes even fire-breathing apex predators need a helping hand.Whether it’s rescuing strays or feeding a furry friend in need, Bean knows animals deserve friendship just as much as humans. (Possibly more.) So when a troop of visiting soldiers plans to use a baby dragon as bait to kill its mother, Bean knows it's up to her to stop them.But facing a squad of fighters and the mage leading them is bigger than Bean’s usual rescues. Good thing she has a squad of her her fierce and practical older sister Rae, and Niya, her middle sister with a secret magical talent up her sleeve. A totally mighty team - so long as her big sisters understand this is Bean’s mission, one she won't give up even if it's dangerous. Even if the plan goes wrong.And if she actually frees the hatchling? Maybe her siblings will finally notice what Bean's been trying to show them for their little sister isn't so little anymore.This short story in the Dauntless Path world takes place between The Bone Knife (1.5), and The Theft of Sunlight (Book 2), but can be read out of order, whenever makes your heart happy!

I did not choose this fate. But I will not walk away from it. Children have been disappearing from across Menaiya for longer than Amraeya ni Ansarim can remember. When her friend’s sister is snatched, Rae knows she can’t look away any longer—even if that means seeking answers from the royal court, where her country upbringing and clubfoot will only invite ridicule. Yet the court holds its share of surprises. There she discovers an ally in the foreign princess, who recruits her as an attendant. Armed with the princess’s support, Rae seeks answers in the dark city streets, finding unexpected help in a rough-around-the-edges street thief with secrets of his own. But treachery runs deep, and the more Rae uncovers, the more she endangers the kingdom itself.

A princess with two futures. A destiny all her own. Between her cruel family and the contempt she faces at court, Princess Alyrra has always longed to escape the confines of her royal life. But when she’s betrothed to the powerful prince Kestrin, Alyrra embarks on a journey to his land with little hope for a better future. When a mysterious and terrifying sorceress robs Alyrra of both her identity and her role as princess, Alyrra seizes the opportunity to start a new life for herself as a goose girl. But Alyrra soon finds that Kestrin is not what she expected. The more Alyrra learns of this new kingdom, the pain and suffering its people endure, as well as the danger facing Kestrin from the sorceress herself, the more she knows she can’t remain the goose girl forever. With the fate of the kingdom at stake, Alyrra is caught between two worlds and ultimately must decide who she is, and what she stands for. Includes The Bone Knife, a bonus short story set in the world of Thorn.