Undying
About
A cursed princess returns from her self-imposed exile to free her abandoned motherland from foreign invaders as well as to exact vengeance on those who wronged her, forging new, unlikely alliances along the way, while also learning to embrace the darkness inside her. Set in a secondary fantasy world inspired by ancient Ireland, UNDYING is a reimagining of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland as well as the fairy-tale of ‘Hansel and Gretel’ mixed with Celtic mythology and folklore.
Rory Ó Conchúir, the princess of the vale and the bastard-born daughter of the king of Connacht, has always known that she was destined for war. Her deadly gifts, the unwanted inheritance of her ancestor, the Mórrígan, goddess of truth and of war, can only be wielded as a weapon of destruction and doom. For years, she would not allow herself to be used as such, instead choosing to live an idle, carefree life far across the sea, refusing to regret what – and whom – she has left behind in order to do so, until the fateful day that she learns of the price she has paid for the sake of her own personal peace.
Niall Ó Flannagáin, the newly-crowned young king of Connacht, was never meant for war. That has always been his half-sister’s role, who has long since abandoned Éire – and him – to face the threat of a foreign invasion and the ruination of the entire realm all alone, without the aid of her preternatural and fearsome gifts, the shadowy truth-magic of the Mórrígan herself. In desperation, he turns to an ancient and powerful enemy hidden high in the mountains of Connacht as an ally, his only hope to unite the provinces against the foreign armies gathering even now to destroy the land he loves so dearly and has sworn to protect.
Locke MacMurchada, the son of the traitor-king of Leinster, owes a debt that he knows he can never truly pay – his father’s betrayal of his homeland, allying with foreign powers in order to take back the throne and lands stripped from him by the former king of Connacht. When he finds himself with the opportunity to ally himself with the infamous Rory Ó Conchúir, he seizes the chance to redeem himself, and to protect what is left of both his people and the legacy which his father ripped to shreds.
When the long-anticipated war at last arrives on the shores of Éire, the lives of all three royals – the cursed princess, the young king, and the traitor prince – become inextricably woven together, forcing them to face new threats and old enemies in order to avenge what they have lost and to defend what is left, hoping to forge a stronger Éire from the ashes of the old.