#temitope

The Gryphon of Sirray

Prince Enori's life changes forever when a young gryphon named Yom crashes through his window. Gryphons haven't been seen in hundreds of years, but then again, neither has magic. That, too, shows up in great supply – in the hands of his country's enemies. Gryphons are supposed to regulate magic and keep it from causing undue harm but Yom is seemingly the only one. So they set off on a journey to find out what happened all the other gryphons and free them if possible, hopefully in time to save his country from utter destruction.

The Huntress of Anihwen

Somehow the goddess of death has gone missing and all hell is breaking loose. In order to find out what happened and put a stop to it, Siani decides to break into the underworld and put things to rights.

The Huntress might be missing, but her hounds were left behind. They agree to help Siani track down their missing mistress in a quest that may take them to the deepest, darkest pits of the underworld.

The Swan Husband

Lirio’s country has found itself in a difficult spot. They need allies and the best way to do that is through marriage. He has the great idea of trying to catch and marry a swan maiden, as they are famously good warriors and strategists. It’s just his luck that the swan he manages to catch is no maiden at all, but actually a swan prince who has been pretending to be his older sister ever since she was poisoned on the battlefield several years earlier.

Worse still, although Celendine can no longer take the battlefield, she’s still a very productive older sister who will do anything to make sure her favorite little brother isn’t hurt.

Temitope

As the youngest princess of the peaceful and prosperous country of Murane, Temitope’s life has always been blessed. Blessed that is, until a power-hungry king in the north proclaims himself Emperor and begins a campaign to conquer all the way to the southern shore. To those countries who resist, he brings fire and iron, and leaves them decimated. The only way to protect one’s country is to send a son to serve in his court. But the royal family of Murane only has daughters.

One by one the princesses take a turn pretending to be a prince and try to make their way to the Emperor’s court, but only Temitope succeeds. Initially she is only concerned about keeping up her ruse and protecting her country. However she soon gets dragged into events pertaining to Princess Sigrid, the so-called most beautiful princess in the world, who has been missing for months, and whose disappearance seems to have something to do with the Emperor’s rise to power.

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Nyari is turned loose on the streets with nothing but massive holes in his memory and a criminal record that he also doesn’t remember, but has been assured by others is real. With nowhere else to go he does what all refugees do, and heads for The Bridge - a self-governing area straddling two countries but not beholden to either.

Unlike most people, he actually know someone who lives there, Dante – who might as well be a prince as far as The Bridge is concerned. While Nyari only intended to see a friendly face, it turns out that Dante needs his help. Something strange is happening and whoever’s behind it is using magic specifically crafted to negate his own. With a chance of a permanent home and the possible ability to recover some of his missing memories from their shared past, Nyari agrees to become Dante’s spy and try to put a stop to whatever is happening.

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Lin Mingxian is a young cultivator who has a serious disagreement with the elders of his sect about the ethics of actions they’ve taken in the past, and actions they want him to take in the future. The argument gets bad enough that they actually disown him. Although they probably intended for him to come back after becoming more familiar with the outside world, Lin Mingxian decides to take matters into his own hands. He believes it’s possible for humans and yaoguai to live in harmony, and he will do whatever he has to do to make it to the court of the current yaoguai king for a chance to prove it.

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Anrikas is a prince who has been cast off his throne and is trying to regain it, but he has no allies and is in desperate need of support.

Tiarnach thinks that he’s just a regular human until he’s suddenly yanked out of his own world and into another. Surprise, it turns out that his family migrated from that world to a different one, but in the distant past his ancestors ended up with a debt of honor to the Anrikas’ ancestors and swore a vow of aid. The conditions of triggering it, somehow, had not been met until just this moment.

This she did. Going to her customary place at the base of the two thrones, she knelt and offered her find. She didn't offer it to Sigrid but to the Emperor himself. That, she knew, was the right thing to do.

Emperor Lyov reached for it like a man hypnotized. But as soon as he touched the hilt, a voice began to echo around the room, louder and louder as it went on.

"Murderer, trader, thief!" It screamed, over and over again.

The Emperor drew back his hand, and all at once it was as if Sigrid’s influence over him had vanished and he was himself again. "What are you doing, boy?" He demanded. "Why did you bring that thing here?"

Temitope had forgotten how intense and uncomfortable his gaze was, but she did not falter or lower the knife. "I only faithfully follow my master's orders, great Emperor."

To his credit, the Emperor did not for one minute think she was talking about him. “If you draw that knife on me, boy, you will regret it. I'll raze your country to the ground, kill your family and your people and you last of all!" He stood to his full height and Temitope stood as well.

Temitope had realized some time ago that Sigrid was trying to get her to kill the Emperor. She didn't know if she was ready, but she had promised. Emperor Lyov put one hand on his sword, and she grasped the dagger.

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The chest, made from wood and bronze, came first, thrown out of the sea only to be immediately covered by a clawed hand. The dragon that arose out of the water was similar to the one Temitope had seen before, although much larger and more hostile by far. It towered over her, baring fangs as long as her arm and staring at her through eyes as expressionless as those of the shark.

"What right do you have to call me?" It said. "You are not of the sea." Its voice had a hissing quality, almost matching sound of the waves crashing against the pebbled shore.

Temitope shook her head and gripped her sword more tightly than before. "I was sent by Princess Sigrid to fetch her mother's wedding dress." She could only hope it would listen to her, fighting this thing would not be anything like sparring with the other princes, and she wasn't even particularly good at that.

"She should come herself," the dragon said, and began dragging the chest back towards the edge of the rocks.

"Wait! Please!" Temitope moved forward to stand right next to the chest. "Princess Sigrid can't leave where she is right now. But she gave me the blood, and the key." She pulled the coral key out of her pocket and showed it to the dragon. The beast did not seem impressed.

Hoho! I've shared a lot more from these and have talked about them fairly extensively, but I still have ~secrets~ I can share!

Dragon's Daughter:

My editor described Patrice's mom as "cringe on main" and as it turns out, (and you learn more about in book two) that's kind of how other dragons saw her as well. Her mother is famous, but not for a good reason.

Temitope:

I set up this universe for the purpose of being able to continuously write fairytale retellings set here, so although Temitope is a standalone story there are other books that are set in the same place! (I've written one other one so far, although it needs a lot of work). So there are a lot of races, cultures, and magic systems that you get to continue to learn about in the future and there might even be some Easter eggs tying books together ^__^

Magic Black as Knight:

This is the only story I've ever written that has dragons where the dragons can't take on human form, and yes that is important to the plot!