In our kingdom of seven walled demesnes, the wicked scheme while the innocent dream.
(Innocents are fools.)
I slew my dreams when I wed a king.
Now I am a woman reviled, the only queen in centuries to fail at my task. Instead of bearing seven heirs, I have birthed only a single girl.
Without our future seven monarchs, our world will end.
My base cur of a king, however, shirks his duty to sire them. Spurning my bed, he slithers sordidly into those of other women.
My only solace is dispatching assassins after our daughter. (Stupid girl! Not even a quarter century has given her a brain, for she runs ruffian-like with lowborns and nobodies.)
How I would like nothing more than to fold my decrepit body on the altar of defeat and have done with these tiresome hours, but my odious king has commanded a spell to keep me alive.
In defiance and despair, I flee into the night.
A bedraggled creature, I wander to the dumpheap of our city.
There, a beautiful and sharp-toothed enemy offers me a bargain.
He gives me magic to spy, so I can slink into minds.
I can track my daughter's fiery duel of survival with the rebel sworn to end her. I watch our healer's bleeding compassion war with our remorseless court mage. I spy on nobles, fops, shapechangers?children.
No one escapes my iniquitous wiles.
Let others scorn me now.
Let them conspire behind my back.
With the monster's magic, I will look straight into their hearts.
Venture into a bitter queen's glittering court, where dreams glisten while the wicked listen...
You get multiple POVs, including a main character who is 46 and others aged 12 to 44.
CONTENT WARNINGS: Aside from the requisite killing and violence present in most fantasy, this has near SA (aborted by the assailant), mentions of suicide and suicide ideation, mention of violent domestic abuse, mentions of miscarriages and stillbirths, one baby's soul taken out, one magical abortion of babies that turn out to be monsters, and cremation of a very, very bad man.
COMFORT WARNING: There is a very cute dog. I am not a dog person, yet here we are. My cat is Very Put Out at this.
Autorentext
Born in Texas but somehow having escaped without the accent, Sonya Lano currently lives in Prague, Czech Republic with two cats and a bunch of dust balls, hairballs, fur balls, spiders, story manuscripts, dreams, chocolate, books, and whatever else is hanging around her flat. Her full-time day job testing software pays the bills while her nights are (mostly) filled with living in other worlds.