Crossing the Bloodline — Harold M. Ickes II

Black clouds gather, and the heavens rumble with a dark fate. Embroiled in the foolish machinations of a lustful, adolescent king, and compounded by economic depression, war, and disease, the lands become ripe with unrest. Assassinations rip through the Great Houses, but the architects behind the murders remain at large. Accusations fly. The guilds draw lines in the sand. Rebellion and civil war seem unavoidable. All the while, no one knows the true threat that lurks deep in the shadows of the world around them. It is ancient, sordid, and foul. Its eyes are set on a young man named Aerandor, who unknowingly has the lives of hundreds of thousands in his hands. He has it all, it seems. Aerandor is young, with dreams, talent, and a beautiful wife. Sadly, he also has a terrible past. He hides from it and is plagued by nightmares. Swearing to leave his childhood behind, he takes his wife to a small town in the country, but when he returns home one day to find her kidnapped, his life turns upside down. A ransom letter is the only clue. Together with a soldier-turned-alcoholic whose brother is missing and a naïve widower distraught over the disappearance of his little daughter, the three set out on the most terrifying journey of their lives. Running like rabbits from wolves, Aerandor and his companions find themselves besieged by deception, betrayal, constant march, unrelenting danger, and gnawing starvation. They are beset by psychological decay and doubt, and it threatens to tear them apart. They close in on the rescue only to find a nemesis they never expected and a wicked truth best left unrevealed. To win his bride, Aerandor must face what haunts him. To save her, he must do the unthinkable. It is a moment that will define him, but either way, the truth is unstoppable and terror only just beginning.