What do you think?
Rate this book
The Fire Burns Trilogy #1
Vek: Until the Fire Burns
Vektoria Rayne has buried too many of her people already.
The Kavala — once feared across the realm — are nearly gone. Only children remain. So when a contract comes that could secure their survival, Vek takes it, traveling with her husband into a foreign land that does not welcome outsiders, carrying a grief she hasn't fully the child she lost, the future that died with it, and the quiet question she can't stop asking herself.
Does her husband love her? Or was she simply given to him by the elders, a tribal match sealed without her heart's consent?
She doesn't have time to find the answer. Because the contract is a trap.
Vek carries out her mission — and discovers too late that she's been used. A king is dead. A ruthless second-in-command has seized the throne. And the Kavala are the scapegoat, hunted across the realm by soldiers and mages while the man who betrayed them watches from his new throne.
When her husband turns back to fight so she can escape — so she can warn a queen, protect an alliance, save the children still alive — Vek runs. And hates herself for it.
But running isn't surrender. It's strategy. And Vektoria Rayne did not survive the near-extinction of her people by giving up when the odds turned against her.
Vengeance would be easy. Justice is harder. And somewhere between the two, Vek has to decide what kind of woman she is — and whether the man who may or may not love her is worth going back for.
Until the Fire Burns is a clean YA fantasy set in the world of The Brightness Queen Saga — for readers who want their heroines complicated, their stakes real, and their love stories earned rather than given.
Perfect for readers who
Fierce female warriors carrying grief as well as weaponsArranged marriage romance with real emotional stakesAssassin fantasy with political betrayal and high stakesFound family and survival at the edge of extinctionClean fantasy where love is tested not assumedConnected to The Brightness Queen Saga. Can be read as a standalone.
The Kavala — once feared across the realm — are nearly gone. Only children remain. So when a contract comes that could secure their survival, Vek takes it, traveling with her husband into a foreign land that does not welcome outsiders, carrying a grief she hasn't fully the child she lost, the future that died with it, and the quiet question she can't stop asking herself.
Does her husband love her? Or was she simply given to him by the elders, a tribal match sealed without her heart's consent?
She doesn't have time to find the answer. Because the contract is a trap.
Vek carries out her mission — and discovers too late that she's been used. A king is dead. A ruthless second-in-command has seized the throne. And the Kavala are the scapegoat, hunted across the realm by soldiers and mages while the man who betrayed them watches from his new throne.
When her husband turns back to fight so she can escape — so she can warn a queen, protect an alliance, save the children still alive — Vek runs. And hates herself for it.
But running isn't surrender. It's strategy. And Vektoria Rayne did not survive the near-extinction of her people by giving up when the odds turned against her.
Vengeance would be easy. Justice is harder. And somewhere between the two, Vek has to decide what kind of woman she is — and whether the man who may or may not love her is worth going back for.
Until the Fire Burns is a clean YA fantasy set in the world of The Brightness Queen Saga — for readers who want their heroines complicated, their stakes real, and their love stories earned rather than given.
Perfect for readers who
Fierce female warriors carrying grief as well as weaponsArranged marriage romance with real emotional stakesAssassin fantasy with political betrayal and high stakesFound family and survival at the edge of extinctionClean fantasy where love is tested not assumedConnected to The Brightness Queen Saga. Can be read as a standalone.
- GenresFantasy
257 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 18, 2024
About the author
Michael J. Edmond
14 books16 followersMichael Edmond is a Christian, a husband and a father. He's worked as a coach, an English teacher, and a journalist. He earned his bachelor’s degree in film and video at Pennsylvania State University, where he focused on the art of screenwriting. Desiring to create expansive worlds and fantastical realms with virtuous but flawed characters with rich backstories, Edmond turned to writing novels and earned his master’s degree in creative writing.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
No one has reviewed this book yet.