Of Talons and Steel

ORELIA never wanted to take up the mantle of knight. But after her heart was broken by her first and only love, and her family turned her out to avoid a scandal, she saw no other way to protect herself from ruin. Shouldering the weight of her sword and the unrelenting loneliness of standing unwanted amongst the peerage, she forges herself into a pillar of loyalty and strength. It isn't until she is sent to guard the vulnerable farms near the country's border that she meets an enemy she cannot bring down with a sword. Corruption. A young lord has bought the loyalties of the other knights, and they will stop at nothing to raze the village they were supposed to protect to keep their secret. Especially not the Lady Knight of Vizeras. They weren't prepared for a monster to come to her aid-a harpy with the face of a woman Orelia loved so long ago. Torn between loyalty to her people and the unbearable need to know if the monster that saved her can see the secret she has kept all these years, Orelia must decide where her heart truly lies, and what she is willing to sacrifice for it.