Pelippé Trueblood is on the voyage of a lifetime and hosting a temperamental, half-man half-horse onboard his ship. He just might end up killing his difficult guest. Or kissing him.

Trueblood is descended from giants and poised to be one of the world's great mariners. Raised by his father on the mighty ship Cay, he's chosen at nineteen for a perilous voyage predicted in ancient prophecy: find the lost Tree of Life and anchor her branches back to the sky. Young and unseasoned, Trueblood fears the gods may have picked the wrong man for the job. Worse, scripture demands he be accompanied by the beautiful, brooding Fen il-Kheir. Nothing in Trueblood's life at sea has prepared him for this dangerous new crew member, nor the feelings he plants in Trueblood's heart.

Fen is a kheiron--a creature with the ability to shift between man and horse. With his dark past, his distrust of humans and his contempt for prophecy, Fen proves a reluctant passenger who could jeopardize not only the voyage, but the very future of the world. As the journey progresses, Fen finds himself more and more drawn to the Cay's charismatic commander, bringing the kheiron closer to everything his human nature longs for, and everything the beast in him fears.

“Every sentence is another piece of a poem, the characters are all heroes in every story you’ve ever loved, and the world–building is absolutely phenomenal.” —Kate Douglas, author of Wolf Tales

“A fantastical, magical sort of book… Recommended for anyone who likes beautiful stories that have a lot of heaviness, fantasy worlds, storytelling as a theme, and loving relationships of all kinds.” —Metaphors & Moonlight

© 2024 Suanne Laqueur (Audiobook): 9798988021629

Release date

Audiobook: January 12, 2024