The Prison Healer
Kiva Meridan has survived ten years inside Zalindov, the most notorious death prison in the kingdom, by making herself indispensable: as the prison's healer, she treats the sick and the dying while never letting anyone see how much she is simply enduring, waiting for the family that promised to come back for her.
Then the captured Rebel Queen is dragged through Zalindov's gates, gravely ill and sentenced to the Trial by Ordeal — four elemental trials that no prisoner has ever survived. When a coded message arrives from Kiva's family — "Don't let her die. We are coming." — Kiva makes a desperate choice: she volunteers to take the Queen's place and face the trials herself. Now she must stay alive against impossible odds while a deadly plague sweeps the prison, a rebellion stirs beyond the walls, and she can no longer be sure who to trust — including the charming fellow prisoner Jaren and the watchful guard Naari.
The first book in Lynette Noni's Prison Healer trilogy, this is a tense, twist-filled YA fantasy of survival, secrets, and hard choices.
A prisoner and healer who volunteers to face deadly elemental trials in the Rebel Queen's place.
A young, cheerful prisoner and one of Kiva's few friends inside Zalindov.
A watchful prison guard who becomes an unexpected ally.
A charming new prisoner whose arrival chips away at Kiva's guarded facade.
The captured Rebel Queen, brought to Zalindov gravely ill and sentenced to the Trial by Ordeal.
The first book in the series concludes with a significant plot twist that leaves several major character arcs unresolved, directly setting up the events of the next installment.
This book is the first in a planned series and introduces a larger narrative arc that continues across multiple volumes. Readers should be aware that the story is not self-contained.