Sand and Scythe: 3

The king is missing. A puppet regent sits on the throne of Exas, guided by powerful men who will do anything to stop the long-promised marriage between Princess Nyana and Prince Kalen. As halovirus tears through the kingdom and assassins close in from every side, Abra's carefully constructed lies begin to unravel. The secret she's keeping could destroy everything - including the prince she's starting to care about. When a desperate search for a mythical cure turns deadly, Abra and Kalen find themselves hunted by enemies within the castle walls and beyond them. With allies disappearing, loyalties crumbling, and the kingdom sliding toward collapse, survival may require abandoning everything they thought they wanted. But escaping Exas is only the beginning. Beyond the sea lies a kingdom ruled by monsters - or so the stories claim - and the answers waiting there may be even more dangerous than the enemies they left behind.