Secrets

This is the first book in The Dark Days of Magic series. This is a fantasy series that contains some adult themes, suitable for ages 16+. It has characters of different sexual orientation, colour and backgrounds. As the series name suggests there is a dark and threatening overtone to the books, but the underlying theme throughout is of perseverance, love and survival.Corrupt rulers, outlawed magic, secret prisons, and tortured magicians.Now is not the time to develop magic. At home, incapacitated by the worst pain he has ever felt, Thaniel has no idea that the magic awakening in his veins is a kind so secret barely anyone knows anything about its existence. He has no idea that his stepfather is about to turn him over to the oligarchy or that the young woman he keeps dreaming about might actually be real and connected to him in a way no one could ever have predicted. Caught up in the oligarchy's guardian scheme, Amelia is devastated when her magic comes in. Driven to drastic action to keep her new abilities secret, she can only wish that the hero who has started appearing in the nightmares that drown her night after night might one day save her for real. Meanwhile, she has to watch as others succumb to their emerging powers, losing control, and being taken away, never to be heard of again. In these Dark Days of Magic, secrets are everywhere, and nothing is what it seems, but the oligarchs are not the only ones capable of deception, and magicians are not the only ones seeking revenge. Amelia and Thaniel are not on their own. They are not giving in, and they are not giving up. Because despite all they are being put through, Amelia and Thaniel have secrets of their own. Trigger warning: this book is about an organisation that tortures and abuses its prisoners; whilst these scenes are not glorified or particularly graphic, they are unpleasant and can be shocking. There are no blood and gore scenes.There is also talk of a historic rape.