Challenges — Sharon Green

The competition has begun. The band of five which best combines elemental magics into the most powerful alchemy will be chosen to win the throne and ward doom for the kingdom. But the stakes are much higher than anyone suspects.

Each magical adept possesses a potent preternatural talent. Stunning Tamrissa is Fire; Valiant the sailor, Water, Jovvi the lissome ex-courtesan, Spirit; farmer Lorand, Earth; and blue-blooded Rion, Air.

But their fragile union threatens to disintegrate when Jovvi and Tamrissa discover a secret sensuality that would make their Blending supreme. And the dissension within is nothing compared to the perils assailing the enchanted quintet from competing nobles and judges alike, all determined to see the peasant mages perish. For as they vie for the Palace of Five, the brave but unwary team rushes headlong into desperate danger ... and unknowable jeopardy.