Dusk Lords

The Horned Crown has been destroyed and the prince of Mistral's Dusk Blood has awoken.After successfully delivering Cassius's orders to Feng, Dorian and Shye have found themselves stuck in Aura, waiting on the wind to call Shye's name – but Shye's powers are broken.It isn't until Minister Sincere of the Feng Council arrives that they learn the true price of their actions in Mistral. Sincere has brought new orders from Cassius for his trusted Stormborn and hunter: find the source of the sickness spreading among the Blooded and eliminate it.But as Shye and Dorian begin their mission, Cassius faces troubles of his own in the capital. The council are ever suspicious of the changes in their prince, and troubling dreams haunt Cassius's sleep. Dreams of a place he has never seen and a figure who burns with golden light. Treason stalks the halls of the Brightspir, and the allies Cassius has gathered may not be enough to help him hold the throne, now that he has lost his crown.And under the seas of Aura the Nain tremble, for Dusk long imprisoned is waking, hungry for vengeance…As the Blooded fall, the Dusk Eater will rise.

The hunt has begun. They will find him. And when they do, he will bring down the Empire from within. The Empire would say the Blooded who ruled the land before them are dead and gone, but those onboard the Oathbreaker know it to be a lie; one look at the captain's ward will tell you that. Shye is one of them. A Stormborn, Dusk Blooded, Strange . . . an enemy of the Empire, and he has just blown his crew's cover on imperial docks. Shye wants to stop hiding, to learn the secrets of the Blooded, and discover what being a Stormborn truly means. The answers to the fading of the Blooded and all Shye's other questions must lay in Mistral, the capital of the Empire, and Shye knows that the bounty hunter dispatched to capture him can take him there. Dorian just wants freedom. But such a goal is constantly threatened by the demands of their noble father, who wanted a perfect, controllable heir . . . he got Dorian instead. It is only their reputation that keeps them safe. The assignment to track down a rumoured Stormborn, a being of legend in tales told to guild children, could destroy that reputation forever if it turns out to be a lie. But, if the rumour is true, Dorian will be untouchable in the eyes of the crown and beyond their father's reach forever. There can be no better coronation gift for the crown prince than a Stormborn. Five Lords of Dusk is the debut queer fantasy novel by indie author F. Malbeck. Featuring a genderqueer lead and a flintlock fantasy setting, this novel takes place in a world partly inspired by the author's home country of Australia.