by Brett Buckley
A thousand and one years before the nights of Shahrazad, Izzi is the daughter of a wealthy caravan lord in Zakra, a desert city at war with neighbouring Kythia—the mountain land her dead mother once called home. By day, she studies at the Magekadeh, learning the disciplined magic of Zakra to defend her city. By night, she secretly reads the journals her mother left behind and teaches herself the wild, forbidden sorcery of the desert. She knows a bargain with a djinni ends in ruin, and that a ghul will devour your soul. But when her dearest friend faces mortal danger, a desperate rescue shatters her place in the world. Then an exiled Ifrit djinni offers her power—at the price of a perilous, time-bending quest to recover a lost urn whose secrets could shatter kingdoms. Caught between enemy lands, her mother’s legacy, and beings that treat mortals as playthings, Izzi must decide who to trust, what kind of magic she will wield, and whether the war dividing her world is built on a lie. In a world of wiles, ghuls, dark sorcerers, princes, witches, evil queens, and eternal djinn, saving one friend may demand far more than courage. It may demand that Izzi betray the land that raised her. Or uncover a truth that could unmake the world she knows. What to expect: • A clever, driven, female main character who must grow into dangerous power • Mythic adventure with dark fairy-tale undertones • Djinn bargains and ancient sorcery with wonder, danger, and real consequences • A richly imagined desert-and-mountain world with Silk Road and Arabian Nights flavour • Political intrigue, shifting loyalties, and a war built on lies • Friendship, betrayal, and the challenge of learning who to trust • Personal stakes that grow into kingdom-shaking truths • Two chapters per week
