Discover Consecrated
The future of both Soltierra and the Calm Waters relies on the union forged every solstice between the consecrated men and women from each. But it’s time that something change…
Two cultures reliant on their Awakened.
Two cultures on the brink of collapse.
As I wrote Celebrated and came to know the visitors from among the Calm Water Mer, I knew that Koa had a story waiting to be told too, one tied to the cultures we get a glimpse of in that holiday short. Two cultures that rely on the Awakened children that come of mer and desert dweller meeting. Two cultures that are complete opposites of each other, as all Awakened male children are returned to the waters, and all females to the sands.
In both Soltierra and the Calm Waters, the magic they need to survive has grown weak and old. Except in a few select cases…
Luciana, Crown Princess of Soltierra
Serving Her People Will Destroy Her…
Every week, as Crown Princess, Luciana must go out to the Summoning Pool and call up enough water from the desert to sustain her people. And every week, it nearly kills her. Her younger sister has the power to do it and thrive, but the Law of Inheritance is immutable. The only way to pass the crown to Solara–who Luci knows is the true hope of her people–is to die without an heir herself. And she’s prepared to do exactly that.
First, though, she has to be away from Aureluz, the capital of Soltierra, while the visiting prince from Daryatla arrives. So it is she, rather than their mother, who will have honor this year of presiding over the Meeting with the Calm Water Mer on Isla Anahi. The Meeting from which all the Awakened in both kingdoms are born.
A king who knows his weakness…
Koa learned twenty-five years ago as the first, newly-anointed king of the Calm Water Mer’s Alliance of the Seven Tides exactly how weak the magic is on their side of the continent, compared to the Atla Mer and Daryatla. He has embraced faith in the One…and now must trust that somehow, the One who led his people this far will make a way forward. Even though with pirates ever threatening his people, he is keenly aware of all he can’t do to protect them.
Koa, King of the Calm Water Mer, Tide-Bearer of the Alliance of the Seven Tides
He prays that, someday, his people will trust him to lead them toward the True Faith…
He prays that, someday, they’ll find a way to rewrite the laws that might just destroy both the mer and Soltierra.
And he prays that day will come soon.
Soltierra’s best hope, from the queen and Luciana’s point of view, is to imbue strong magic into the next generation, through Solara…and a visitor from the east.
Prince Bleu of Daryatla, the second born of King Seidon and Queen Arden, knows very well that he’s been invited to Soltierra for a matchmaking venture. And given that he’s lived his hundred and twelve years carefully guarding his heart–having sworn along with his sister, Perla, that he won’t marry anyone but an Awakened woman capable of matching his magic, one who can complete him as fully as his parents do each other–he’s ready to meet that someone. And fully hopes that it’s Solara, another second born royal.
And when he hears the Voice of the Wind, of the Triada, whispering to him that he will indeed find his heart and his bride in Soltierra, he knows true hope.
Except that nothing is ever quite that easy.
Solara, Princess of Soltierra
Solara isn’t about to let her sister sacrifice herself…
Her mother says she needs to put Soltierra first, above all. But Solara isn’t willing to put her love for her sister aside, and she has no intention of going along with her mother’s plan for her to fall in love with Prince Bleu.
Which is good. Because she and Bleu both know within minutes of meeting that they’re not ever going to be anything but friends. But in the month while her sister is gone and Bleu is there, she’ll play her own game…and Solara isn’t about to lose. Not when the happiness of everyone she loves is at stake.
Iraja knows her job…
Iraja has been Solara’s best friend all her life. And after the queen brought her into the royal household after her parents’ death, she knew her role: to serve the royal family above all. To make sure Solara accepts her fate. To obey her queen in all things.
So when the prince arrives, she knows it’s her job to make sure Solara falls in love, and that Bleu does too. So she’ll do what she does best. She’ll pay attention. She’ll steer her best friend. And she’ll sing the prince’s praises…which isn’t hard to do.
Iraja Lal, best friend of Princess Solara
After coming to faith in the One along with his brother, Koa, twenty-five years ago, Aro decided to become a priest of the One and serves now on Isla Anahi, where he oversees the Meeting each year and serves the couples who guarantee the future of both the mer and the Soltierrans.
But Aro is still Aro–always a little mischievous. And he has a plan.
Aro always has a plan.
Come discover the beautiful desert oasis of Aureluz in Soltierra…dive down to the deeps of the Calm Waters with the Alliance of the Seven Tides…and discover how the One, the Triada, the Voice of the Wind guides his consecrated children right into the future he had planned all along.
The nomadic Calm Water Mer travel in pearl-pod caravans
Aureluz, the capital city of Soltierra
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.