One-Liner
Talio gets entangled with a shady healer who may have a cure for Pazli’s lethal illness…but he may destroy his legal career in the process. (Adult fantasy, 95,000 words).
Read If You Like…
- Courtroom dramas
- Medical thrillers
- Fantasy Noir
- Horseback rides
- High-stakes gambling
- Gay MCs and LGBTQ rep
- Religious intrigue
- Mixed marriages
- Talio wearing a giant purple wide-brimmed hat
- Peach pie
- Pantomime plays
- Stone fish heads
- Happy endings
Plot Summary
To save the man he loves, Talio Rossa is going to have to use a little bit of magic…
Six months after the events of Talio’s Codex, Talio and Pazli are living together and struggling with their mixed-religion relationship. The Double Moon law office has new quarters, and Talio is working as Legal Advisor for the Incarnite Question at the Royal Palace, although he has discovered this is a mere sinecure.
Their peaceful life is shattered by a lump on Pazli’s neck that appears to be malignant, and is growing. Since the death of the mages 50 years earlier, the state of medicine is primitive. All the healers have are poultices and potions.
Then Talio meets a strange man named Hobb. A medical historian, Hobb claims to have the elixir of life: a universal cure for any disease. Talio’s not buying it. But if he’s a fraud, how is Hobb making his mysterious cures work? As Talio investigates the mysterious man, he wonders if he might be the real thing…or if putting Pazli under his care will kill him.
Meanwhile, the Incarnite faith is facing a schism between two religious figures: a progressive acolyte and a regressive cleric who has sway over Pazli. When the progressive cleric is accused of a serious crime, he is sent to the gallows. But Talio makes a shocking discovery: One of the people closest to him set up the cleric and was responsible for his death. Talio can’t get over the idea that someone he cares for sentenced an innocent man to death.
On the judicial front, things are just as rocky. Talio and Pazli are busy arguing cases in front of Gawani, Talio’s ex-wife who’s now the first female magistrate ever. First up: a toxic dumping case affecting the Incarnite district – in a world that doesn’t recognize class actions. Second: Cale wants the hospital to honor his father’s wish to die before he developed dementia, but his father is considered a ward of the royal body.
And shady innkeeper Vinne and upstanding prosecutor Cale? Talio’s convinced they’d be the ideal mismatched couple, if only he can get them together. It’s as likely as anything else he’s facing. As he races to uncover the truth about Hobb, Talio must also raise a huge amount of money to pay for the surgery. High-stakes gambling is the answer….although he may lose his hand in the process. Or Hobb may very well kill him. But with Pazli’s life hanging in the balance, Talio has to discover what Hobb’s hiding – a secret that will change their world forever.
Publishing Links
- Publisher: TBA
- Publication Date: TBA