The Tandem Reading Edition | Rift + Courting Death & Desire + Risk

Read the first installments in The Courts Between and The Living Courts series as they unfold in this combined edition that weaves back and forth between Astra and Lunelle's stories. Includes Risk, Oestera's prequel novella.

RIFT

The ties that bind often break us.

So few understand how the weight of a crown breaks your neck and straightens your spine the way Lunar demi-goddess Astra does.

She dreams of a world where title and rank mean nothing—a dangerous thought for someone a heartbeat away from the Lunar Throne. Exiled for her fiery tendencies and unpopular politics, she’s spent the last few years far from the court’s suffocating expectations.

When palace guardians find a mysterious object, Astra’s powerful intuition earns her an unwanted summons home from the community she’s built. It’s clear right away that her mother is determined not only to prohibit her return to her found family but to use her hand as a bargaining chip to strengthen alliances with the human courts.

Determined to control her own fate, Astra strikes a deal to wed the charming and rebellious King of Mercury. Her bargain entangles her with the king’s arrogant commander, Luxuros, whose secrets will rain down hell from both the Lunar Court’s enemies in the Solar Court and the gods that watch them all from the Court Above.

As the threat of war looms, Astra and Luxuros are thrust into a dangerous game of hidden truths and forbidden power. Astra must unearth long-buried family betrayals and embrace a legacy she’s always sworn she never wanted to keep the people she loves safe.

COURTING DEATH & DESIRE

Good things come to those who take them.

Lunar princess Lunelle Aurellis has spent thirty years adhering to the expectations of the crown—a role she willingly takes on as she prepares to ascend to the Lunar throne.

Most of the time.

As court alliances shift and whispers of war grow louder, the Plutonian Court finds itself ousted by the Solar King and at the mercy of the Inner Courts and their Lunar leadership.

At her mother’s insistence, Lunelle leaves home for the first time and joins the regents of the Inner Courts in the Plutonian Court to discuss what their prince, Arcas, has to offer. Unfortunately for his ego, Lunelle finds him lackluster at best, but like any good leader, she’s happy to bite her tongue and play the game for the sake of her court. Luckily, her sister’s fiancé, the Mercurian king, is easy enough to confide in and seems willing to help guide the foolish prince toward wiser choices.

However, Lunelle isn’t sure the same could be said for her as she clings to her rapidly fading resolve to put her politics before her own desires. Tensions abound both in and outside of the Plutonian palace walls, where Nova Rebels aim to take advantage of the regal presence and convince as many monarchs to join the revolution against the gods themselves as possible.

Lunelle finds herself caught between doing what she’s told and doing what she desperately wants as her eye is drawn to new, unexpected places. Out of her element and far from her trusted sister’s confidence, Lunelle must carve her own path and decide if content will ever be enough.

Allegiances will forge and fall apart, often in the same breath, as she explores what her innermost desires can teach her about the benefits of usurping tradition and expectation.

Courting Death & Desire is the first installment of The Living Courts, a series of interconnected standalones following the side plots that thicken during the events of its sister series, The Courts Between.

Follow Astra’s older sister, Lunelle, on this steamy, why choose adventure through the Plutonian Court as she navigates forbidden love and confronts the god of death.    

Oestera Aurellis has no qualms with her arranged marriage to the Martian prince.

He’s a decent enough conversationalist, easy on the eyes, and a ticket out from under her mother’s critical gaze. She’s suspicious of the anger bubbling beneath his skin, but what’s a little rage in the Court of War?

Until a painfully charming Earthen soldier crashes into her world and forever alters the course of her life, Oestera never considers that there might be something more in this life for her.

With the weight of the Martian prince’s ring on her finger, Oestera is left in the haze of the gods’ cruel timing with a choice.

She can suffer through a lifetime on the Martian throne with her Soulmate forever out of reach, or she can risk the stability of the entire System and fight for the Fate she deserves.

RISK is a steamy prequel to RIFT, following Astra and Lunelle’s parents as they navigate a disastrous Tethering, a battle between duty and destiny, and bargaining with the God of War.