Threads of Fate — E.M. Sinclair

The Imperator of Kelshan plans to exterminate all of the clans in the north of his lands. Shivan, Lord of the Dark Realm, asks Tika to help him thwart this plan. She agrees, although they cannot avert a battle where many are lost. Kelshan descends into civil chaos with many of the Confederate states declaring their independence from Kelshan overlordship. Those states are all very small but very determined, and ask Tika and Shivan for their friendship and alliance.