Immortal Longings

Every year King Kasa stages a deadly tournament in San-Er, the twin cities of the kingdom of Talin. The poor enter because the prize is worth any risk. Competitors can jump between bodies, spending their own life force to take over another person, and the power carries a fatal sickness.

Calla Tuoleimi is an outlawed former princess. She joins the games to get near her reclusive uncle, the king, and bring the monarchy down.

Anton Makusa is an exiled aristocrat and one of the best jumpers in Talin. He needs the winnings to fund medical care for the girl he loved as a child, who is in a coma. He and Calla form an uneasy alliance.

August Shenzhi, the king's adopted son, wants to reform the kingdom from within, which puts him on a different path from both of them.

This adult fantasy retells Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and opens the Flesh and False Gods trilogy, which continues with Vilest Things. Calla has to decide whether her heart or her revenge comes first.