Damsel

Elodie

Inophe was the sort of place for which the globe moved backward. While the rest of the world progressed, barren Inophe slid further and further into the past. Seventy years of drought had reduced the duchy s meager croplands to endless sand dunes. The people harvested their gardens of cacti for water, and they existed in a system of bartering ­a length of homespun cloth in exchange for the chore of mending a fence; a dozen eggs for a tincture to ease a toothache; and on special occasions, a goat in exchange for a small sack of precious imported flour.

It s a beautiful place, despite everything, Duke Richard Bayford said as he rode his horse to the edge of a plateau that overlooked the soft brown landscape, broken up here and there by the lean branches of ironwood trees and the yellow flowers of acacias. He was a tall and wiry man, his face wrinkled by four and a half decades under the relentless sun.

It s a beautiful place because of everything, his daughter Elodie chided gently as she rode up beside him. At twenty, she d been helping him with the Duchy of Inophe for as long as she could remember, and she d one day inherit the role as its steward.

Lord Bayford chuckled. You re right as usual, my dove. Inophe is beautiful because of everything it is.

Elodie smiled. Below their plateau, a long-­eared fox sprang from the shade of a desert willow and chased something ­probably a gerbil or lizard ­around a boulder. To the east, undulating dunes rose and fell, mountains of sand cascading toward a glittering sea. Even the dry heat on Elodie s skin felt like the welcome embrace of an old friend.

There was a rustle in the scrub behind them.

Pardon me, Lord Bayford. A man emerged, carrying a staff. A moment later, his herd of bearded gray desert goats followed, indiscriminately biting off the heads of spiny flowers and their thorned stems and swallowing them whole. If only the people of Inophe had such gums and stomachs of iron, they d

Evelyn Skye

Elegant and explosive, Damsel has all the fantasy, beauty, dragons, and intrigue of Game of Thrones, elevated by a feminist lens and a powerful heroine a long line of heroines determined to do right by the world and by her fellow women. Delilah S. Dawson, New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Phasma and The Violence

A must-read novel by a must-read author, this brilliant story sparkles with adventure, unexpected love, and stunning twists expertly crafted. Block off an entire day you re not going to want to put Damsel down. Beth Revis, New York Times bestselling author of Give the Dark My Love and Night of the Witch

With deft prose and intricate invention, Damsel brings the perfect spin to a fantasy fairy tale. Chloe Gong, #1 New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights