Xaltorath (zal-tor-OTH)—a demon prince who can only be summoned through the sacrifice of a family member; self-associated with lust and war.

Xun, Foran (CHUN, FOR-an)—Duke of Jorat; Xun gained the throne at a young age when his father was slain during the Lonezh Hellmarch.

Y

Ynis (YIN-is)—a deceased god-king.

Yor (yor)—one of Quur’s dominions, the most recently added and the least acclimated to imperial rule.

Z

Zaibur (ZAI-bur)—1. the major river running from Demon Falls and Lake Jorat all the way to the ocean, dividing Jorat from Marakor; 2. a strategy game.

Zaibur, the City-States of—archaic name for the collection of divided city-states that populated Marakor prior to being conquered by the Quuros.

Zajhera, Father (zah-JER-ah)—leader of the Vishai Faith / Vishai Mysteries. Personally exorcised the demon Xaltorath, who possessed Janel Theranon when she was a child.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First, I’d like to thank my dearest love, Mike, who continues to be my foundation, my rubber duck, and my first defense against plot holes. Thanks as ever to Karen Faris, for always making the time to give me feedback. Eternal thanks to my agent, Sam Morgan (you didn’t have to answer those panicked Saturday-night phone calls, but thank you for doing it, anyway). I also want to thank the extraordinary people at Tor Books—not just my fantastic editors, Devi Pillai and Bella Pagan (and their assistants, Rachel Bass and Georgia Summers!), but the entire cast of often unsung heroes in editing, production, marketing, and publicity whose hard work and enthusiasm helped make this book possible. My readers may not know about you, but please believe that I do (and will be sending you more fudge). Thank you to Lars Grant-West for his fantastic cover art, Irene Gallo for her perfect art direction, and Thomas Mis for his hard work making the audiobooks extraordinary. I’d also like to thank Rachel Fish for her advice in grappling with the often-complicated gender issues of Jorat. And lastly, thank you to DeBracey Productions at the Georgia Renaissance Festival for letting me hang out and ask annoying questions. Special thanks to the surprisingly nice tournament villain, Lee Kirk, and to Dosbergen “Dopka” Kozugulov, whose discussions of the horse games of his native Kyrgyzstan neatly upended all my plans for how Joratese tournaments worked.

Also by Jenn Lyons

ALSO BY JENN LYONS

The Ruin of Kings

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jenn Lyons lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, three cats, and a nearly infinite number of opinions on anything from Sumerian mythology to the correct way to make a martini. Formerly a video game producer, she now spends her days writing fantasy. A longtime devotee of storytelling, she traces her geek roots back to playing first edition Dungeons & Dragons in grade school and reading her way from A to Z in the school’s library. You can sign up for email updates here.

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