In ordinary times, the paths of Michael and Stefn would never have crossed. Of all the h'nara, his family alone was immune from the persecution of the powerful Church of Loth, protected by an ancient covenant. Michael Arranz was the son of a duke and one of the despised h'naran, half-bloods cursed with the blood of the nara running through their veins. He was also a sin-catcher, living proof of God's displeasure, the shame of his existence atonement for the sins of his ancestors. Stefn Eldering was the youngest son of the Earl of Shia, the last in a long, proud line of demon hunters.

For four hundred years afterwards, the land was at peace. Not until the coming of Arami Lothlain, King of Tanyrin and Blessed of Loth, did the rein of the nara come to a bloody end. The most feared among them were their naragi, sorcerers whose power was all but invincible. He needed a man who carried the ancient blood of the cethera.Human-like, but not human, the nara ruled Tanyrin for centuries. But for Michael become what mankind feared most, he needed a conduit through which to take the powerful, dangerous magic of the Dark Stream. Michael, whose naran blood was the purest in Tanyrin, was the logical choice. Determined to wrest the throne from his brother, Severyn intended nothing less than the resurrection of the ancient naragi. Tanyrin teetered on the edge of chaos.Ī loyal and devoted friend to Tanyrin's crown prince, Michael could refuse Severyn Lothlain nothing, not even when Severyn asked the unspeakable of him. Fear of the h'nara, fanned by the Church, spread tentacles everywhere. The latest of the Lothlain kings was a weakling, unable to curb the ambitions of an increasingly powerful, corrupt clergy.

Human-like, but not human, the nara ruled Tanyrin for centuries.

Cethe by Becca Abbott