Shadow of the Keep

When the magesse is summoned to the Keep in the main city of the Realm, she has no choice but to leave her family and serve the Sovereign. The ruler may hail from the same steppe region as her people, yet presides over a baffling web of intrigue and scorn. The magesse is charged with using her powers to uncover who is scheming to overthrow him. Meanwhile, she must grapple with the unknown aims of the Sovereign's enigmatic boyhood friend, one of the Realm's subjugated Gali Lords, and the darkness that haunts the Keep where she now lives. This sweeping, lushly detailed high fantasy series chronicles the lives of mages, people who have the gift and the curse of sensing and shaping others' thoughts. It shines a light on the nature of duty and love, hierarchy and intimacy, freedom and power. This opening volume traces two complex perspectives that circle around a key mystery: Who is the mage hidden among those at the Keep and what is he hiding?