A Broken Blade

Keera is the King's Blade: his best spy and the assassin he prefers. She is also a Halfling, in a land where the King owns her kind. Her position gives her skill and access, but it does not give her freedom.

A masked figure known as the Shadow has started working against the Crown, and Keera is ordered to track them down. The search leads her into the Faeland. She does not yet know whether her target is a Mortal, an Elf or a Halfling like herself.

The Faeland turns out to be different from what she expected, and so does the Shadow. Keera serves a King who destroyed her people, yet she is also pulled by a promise made long ago. Her choices decide what she will risk, both for herself and for the kingdom.

This is dark fantasy told in the first person by a morally grey narrator, with court intrigue and an enemies-to-lovers romance running through the hunt. It opens The Halfling Saga, and the question driving it is whether Keera can stay loyal to the crown that made her a weapon.