The Vanished Queen

Years ago, Queen Mirantha vanished. King Karolje announced that a neighboring ruler had her assassinated, but his people knew he had made her Disappear himself. Since then his reign has piled up so many horrors that the queen's fate is barely remembered.

Anza is a young student whose father was unjustly executed. When she finds the missing queen's diary, Mirantha's words push her into a resistance group that wants the king gone, and she commits herself to its cause.

Prince Esvar is the king's second son. He lives under his father's thumb and wants a way out, and a chance meeting with Anza offers him one: a place in the resistance. Together the two might have enough power to move against the king.

The risks are stated plainly. If they fail, their deaths could cost the country its freedom for generations. Court politics make the game more dangerous still, since a single misstep could bring a fate worse than death.

This is fantasy with a political-drama core, set under a totalitarian regime that rules through terror and lies. It follows two points of view, a rebel student and a prince inside the palace, and the tone is dark. The book concerns the courage and sacrifice needed to stand against a tyrant.