The Demon King

Han Alister is a former street thief from the Ragmarket of Fellsmarch, trying to keep his mother and sister fed without going back to crime. Silver cuffs he cannot remove still mark him as the gang leader he used to be.

When he witnesses a group of young wizards setting fire to a sacred mountain, he takes an amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard. The amulet once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a thousand years ago, and the powerful Bayar family will stop at nothing to get it back.

Princess Raisa ana'Marianna, heir to the throne of the Fells, has just returned to court after three years with her father's family among the Clans. She wants to be as fierce as the legendary warrior queen Hanalea, who killed the Demon King, but her mother has other plans for her, including a suitor the Queendom is not eager to accept. With wizards gaining influence at court and the kingdom under strain, Raisa and Han come from opposite ends of society and are drawn toward the same danger.

The first book of the Seven Realms series, told from alternating viewpoints, mixing court intrigue with a street-level adventure.