The Queen's Thief

Eugenides, the queen's thief, can steal anything - or so he says. Then his boasting lands him in the king's prison, and his chances of escape look slim. So when the king's magus invites him on a seemingly impossible quest to steal a legendary object and win back his freedom, Gen in no position to refuse. The magus has plans for his king and his country. Gen has plans of his own.

The second novel in the Queen's Thief series. Forsaken by the gods and left to his own devices, Eugenides, Royal Thief of Eddis, summons all his wit and wiles in an attempt to conquer the rival queen of Attolia. When Eugenides, the Thief of Eddis, stole Hamiathes's Gift, the queen of Attolia lost more than a mythical relic. She lost face. Everyone knew that Eugenides had outwitted and escaped her. To restore her reputation and reassert her power, the queen of Attolia will go to any length and accept any help that is offered...she will risk her country to execute the perfect revenge.

By scheming and theft, the Thief of Eddis has become king of Attolia. Eugenides wanted the queen, not the crown, but he finds himself trapped in a web of his own making. Then he drags a naive young guard into the centre of the political maelstrom. Poor Costis knows he is the victim of the king's caprice, but his contempt for Eugenides slowly turns to grudging respect. Though struggling against his fate, the newly crowned king is much more than he appears. Soon the corrupt Attolian court will learn that its subtle and dangerous intrigue is no match for Eugenides.

After an attempted assassination and kidnapping, Sophos, heir to the throne of Sounis, disappears. Those who care for him - including the thief Eugenides and the queen of Eddis - are left to wonder if he is alive and if they will ever see him again. Sophos, under the guidance of yet another tutor, practices his swordplay and strategises escape scenarios should his father's villa come under attack. How would he save his mother? His sisters? Himself? Could he reach the horses in time? Where would he go? But nothing prepares him for the day armed men swarm the villa courtyard.

Deep within the palace of the Mede emperor, in an alcove off the main room of his master's apartments, Kamet minds his master's business and his own. Kamet has accumulated a few possessions, a little money stored in the household's cashbox, and a significant amount of personal power. As a slave, his fate is tied to his master's. If Nahuseresh's fortunes improve, so will Kamet's. A soldier in the shadows offers escape, but Kamet won't sacrifice his ambition for a meagre and unreliable freedom; not until a whispered warning of poison and murder destroys all of his carefully laid plans.

Neither accepted nor beloved, Eugenides is the uneasy linchpin of a truce on the Lesser Peninsula, where he has risen to be high king of Attolia, Eddis, and Sounis. As the treacherous Baron Erondites schemes anew and a prophecy appears to foretell the death of the king, the ruthless Mede empire prepares to strike. Pheris, the heretofore-unknown heir of the traitorous Baron Erondites, is sent to be raised in the Attolian court. Possessing a keen intellect, Pheris has nevertheless had to play the fool in order to survive.