Quarters

The Bards of Shkoder hold the country together. They, and the elemental spirits they Sing – earth, air, fire, and water - bring the news of the sea to the mountains, news of the mountains to the plains. They give their people, from peasant to king, a song in common. Annice is a rare talent, able to Sing all four quarters, but her brother, the newly enthroned King Theron, sees her request to study at the Bardic Hall as a betrayal. To his surprise, Annice accepts his conditions, renouncing her royal blood and swearing to remain childless so as not to jeopardize the line of succession. She walks away from political responsibilities, royal privilege and her family. Ten years later, Annice has become the Princess Bard and her real life is about to become the exact opposite of the overwrought ballad her fellow students at the Bardic Hall wrote about her. Now, she's on the run from the Royal Guards with the Duc of Ohrid, the father of her unborn child, both of them guilty of treason – one of them unjustly accused. To save the Duc's life, they'll have to cross the country, manage to keep from strangling each other, and defeat an enemy too damaged for even a Bard's song to reach.

Trained to kill from childhood, siblings Bannon and Vree have only known life as assassins in the Imperial Army. The army is both their mother and father, their lives subject to the whims of the Crown. When their latest target steals Bannon's body for his own, Vree saves her brother by dragging his spirit in to share hers. But two assassins in one body is one assassin too many. To save both their lives, they must abandon the only life they've known, risking Imperial ire and possible execution, to regain Bannon's body. It isn't until after they capture Gyhard, the body thief, that they realize they can't force him to do anything while he holds Bannon's body hostage. But Gyhard is willing to trade Bannon's body for their assistance. All they have to do – while being hunted for desertion and dealing with an unknown power able to Sing the dead out of the grave – is betray the oaths they've lived by and help Gyhard secure the body of an Imperial Prince.

Having offered sanctuary to the soul of the man who stole her brother's body, Vree heads north to Shkoder with two kigh struggling to co-exist in a single body. Although the odds aren't in their favor, there's a chance, a small chance, the Bards can find Gyhard a body of his own without anyone else having to die. But while Vree is a former assassin trained to kill on command, Gyhard has chosen to kill again and again on a quest for immortality, and the Bards aren't certain which of them is the more dangerous. No one-from the guard on the Citadel gate to the King himself-wants them anywhere near the single Healer who can Sing the Fifth Kigh. No one except Magda, the Healer, whose heritage has taught her that things are not always as they seem …

Benedikt can control the element of water through music, but water is the only element Benedikt can sing, which isolates him from his fellow bards. When the queen of Shkoder outfits a voyage to discover the lands across the sea against the Bardic captain's objections, Benedikt is the only bard willing to brave the captain's wrath and volunteer. In uncharted waters, a storm strikes and the kigh of the deep seas rises. All of Benedikt's skill is unable to save ship or crew. Shipwrecked in an unfamiliar country and unable to send word to Shkoder of the ship's fate, Benedikt must play the part he's been given: a pawn in the game of politics and religion between brother and sister-who both intend to use his song to their advantage. As the queen waits for word, the kigh of the deep seas rises again …

The Seven Armies' deadliest blades are at their best in Three Quarters, a collection of three exciting short stories set in Tanya Huff's Quarters universe. In "Death Rites" sibling assassins Bannon and Vree must eliminate a dangerous traitor who's already thwarted several other professionals. In "Exactly," Vree and Bannon slip surveillance shifts in between body rubs and drinks when they take a holiday, assassin-style. And in the novelette, "Quartered," on Kovar's orders, the young bard Evicka risks her life to spy on Vree and Gyhard in Bicaz. Featuring an all-new foreword and new story introductions from the author, Three Quarters is sure to delight fans of The Quarters Series with Tanya Huff's pitch-perfect harmony of adventure, intrigue, and wit.