{"product_id":"lady-smoke-isbn-9781524767136","title":"Lady Smoke","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe sequel to the instant \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller that was \"made for fans of Victoria Aveyard and Sabaa Tahir\" (\u003ci\u003eBustle\u003c\/i\u003e), \u003ci\u003eLady Smoke\u003c\/i\u003e is an epic fantasy about a throne cruelly stolen and a girl who must fight to take it back for her people.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Kaiser murdered Theodosia's mother, the Fire Queen, when Theo was only six. He took Theo's country and kept her prisoner, crowning her Ash Princess--a pet to toy with and humiliate for ten long years. That era has ended. The Kaiser thought his prisoner weak and defenseless. He didn't realize that a sharp mind is the deadliest weapon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTheo no longer wears a crown of ashes. She has taken back her rightful title, and a hostage--Prinz Soren. But her people remain enslaved under the Kaiser's rule, and now she is thousands of miles away from them and her throne.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo get them back, she will need an army. Only, securing an army means she must trust her aunt, the dreaded pirate Dragonsbane. And according to Dragonsbane, an army can only be produced if Theo takes a husband. Something an Astrean Queen has never done.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTheo knows that freedom comes at a price, but she is determined to find a way to save her country without losing herself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cu\u003ePraise for \u003c\/u\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cu\u003eAsh Princess\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cu\u003e:\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An \u003cb\u003eemotionally complex\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003ebreathtakingly suspenseful \u003c\/b\u003eseries starter.\"--\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A \u003cb\u003edark \u003c\/b\u003eand\u003cb\u003e spellbinding epic\u003c\/b\u003e. . . . Brace yourself, because Theodosia Houzzara--wounded, driven, and deadly--is going to carve out a place for herself in your heart.\" --Sara Holland, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eEverless\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling Ash Princess series:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e “Sure to be \u003cb\u003eone of the summer's most talked about YAs\u003c\/b\u003e. . . .\u003cb\u003e A darkly enchanting page-turner \u003c\/b\u003eyou won't be able to put down.” –\u003ci\u003eBustle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003cb\u003eTense and imaginative,\u003c\/b\u003e this story of a diminished yet vengeful princess inciting a rebellion to recapture her rightful place of power strikes a timely chord. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAsh Princess\u003c\/i\u003e is a smart, feminist twist on a traditional tale of a fallen heroine\u003c\/b\u003e, with plenty of court intrigue, love, and lies to sweeten the deal. Good luck putting this one down.” —Virginia Boecker,\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eauthor of\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eThe Witch Hunter series\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The story leaps and twists like a swordswoman, and its blade carves the characters anew and divides them against themselves. \u003cb\u003eThis searing page-turner is a compelling examination of the complexities of both evil and resistance.\u003c\/b\u003e”—Sarah Porter, author of \u003ci\u003eVassa in the Night\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Laura Sebastian has created \u003cb\u003ea dark and spellbinding epic\u003c\/b\u003e in \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eAsh Princess\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e. Brace yourself, because Theodosia Houzzara—wounded, driven, and deadly—is going to carve out a place for herself in your heart.\" —Sara Holland, \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eEverless\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eEmotionally complex, breathtakingly suspenseful\u003c\/b\u003e\"-\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eFor fantasy fans, especially those who enjoy strong female protagonists\u003c\/b\u003e, this book will be an easy sell. Theo is tough, honorable, and relatable in her emotions [and] Sebastian has built a \u003cb\u003ebeautiful and complex\u003c\/b\u003e world.\"-\u003ci\u003eVOYA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"A rebel queen fans the sparks of revolution...[and] Theo's first-person narration remains \u003cb\u003eenthralling with emotional immediacy\u003c\/b\u003e...[while] \u003cb\u003epacked to the brim with intrigue.\u003c\/b\u003e\"-\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Through unexpected allies and daring escape plans, [Theodosia's] trip from downtrodden princess to queen is an\u003cb\u003e engaging one that fantasy fans will enjoy...[as well as] fans of The Selection series by Kiera Cass and The Hunger Games trilogy\u003c\/b\u003e by Suzanne Collins.\"-\u003ci\u003eSLJ\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"[\u003ci\u003eAsh Princess\u003c\/i\u003e] provides\u003cb\u003e a window into the complexities of human interaction and emotion, familial tensions, and the false public face that is sometimes required in politics and at court\u003c\/b\u003e...culminating in \u003cb\u003ea climactic ending\u003c\/b\u003e ripe for a sequel.\"-\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Sebastian brings interest to Theodosia’s character through her internal battle...and the threats she must navigate provide \u003cb\u003enail-biting tension\u003c\/b\u003e....Readers will want to follow her into the coming revolution in a promised sequel.\"-\u003ci\u003eBulletin\u003c\/i\u003eLaura Sebastian grew up in South Florida and attended Savannah College of Art and Design. She now lives and writes in New York City. Laura is the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eAsh Princess\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLady Smoke\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eEmber Queen\u003c\/i\u003e. To learn more about Laura and her books, follow @sebastian_lk on Twitter.Alone\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The spiced coffee is sweet on my tongue, made with a generous dollop of honey. The way Crescentia always orders it.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e We sit on the pavilion like we have a thousand times before, steaming porcelain mugs cradled in our hands to ward off the chill in the evening air. For a moment, it feels just like every time before, a comfortable silence hanging in the dark air around us. I’ve missed talking to her, but I’ve missed this, too--how we could sit together and not feel the need to fill the silence with meaningless small talk.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e But that’s silly. How can I miss Cress when she’s sitting right in front of me?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e She laughs like she can read my mind and sets her cup down on its saucer with a clatter that rattles my bones. She leans across the gilded table to take hold of my free hand in both of hers.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Oh, Thora,” she says, her voice lilting over my false name like a melody. “I missed you, too. But next time, I won’t.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Before her words can make sense to me, the lighting overhead shifts, the sun growing brighter and brighter until she’s fully illuminated, every awful inch of her. Her charred, flaking neck, burned black by the Encatrio I had her served, her hair white and brittle, her lips gray as the ersatz crown I used to wear.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Fear and guilt overwhelm me as the pieces fall into place in my mind. I remember what I did to her; I remember why I did it. I remember her face on the other side of the bars of my cell, full of rage as she told me she would cheer for my death. I remember the bars being scalding hot where she’d touched them.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e I try to pull my hand away but she holds it fast, her storybook-princess smile sharpening into fangs tipped with ash and blood. Her skin burns hot against mine, hotter even than Blaise’s. It is fire itself against my skin, and I try to scream, but no sound comes out. I stop feeling my hand altogether and I’m relieved for a second before I look down and see that it has turned to ash, crumbled to dust in Cress’s grip. The fire works its way up my arm and down the other, spreading across my chest, my torso, my legs, and my feet. My head catches last, and the final thing I see is Cress with her monster’s smile.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “There. Isn’t that better? Now no one will mistake you for a queen.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e My skin is drenched when I wake up, cotton sheets tangled around my legs and damp with sweat. My stomach churns, threatening to spill, though I’m not sure I’ve eaten anything to spill, apart from a few crusts of bread last night. I sit up in bed, placing a hand on my stomach to steady it and blinking to help my eyes adjust to the dark.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e It takes a moment to realize that I am not in my own bed, not in my own room, not in the palace at all. The space is smaller, the bed little more than a narrow cot with a thin mattress and threadbare sheets and a quilt. My stomach pitches to the side, rolling in a way that makes me nauseous before I realize it isn’t my stomach at all--the room itself is rocking from side to side. My stomach is only echoing the motion.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The events of the last two days filter back to me. The dungeon, the Kaiser’s trial, Elpis dying at my feet. I remember Søren rescuing me only to be imprisoned himself. As quickly as that thought comes to me, I push it away. There are a good many things I have to feel guilty about--taking Søren hostage cannot be one of them.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e I’m on the Smoke, I remember, heading toward the Anglamar ruins to begin to reclaim Astrea. I am in my cabin, safe and alone, while Søren is being kept in chains in the brig.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e I close my eyes and drop my head into my hands, but as soon as I do, Cress’s face swims through my mind, all rosy cheeks and dimples and wide gray eyes, just as she looked the first time I met her. My heart lurches in my chest at the thought of the girl she was, the girl I was, who latched on to her because she was my only salvation in the nightmare of my life. Too quickly, that image of Cress is replaced with her as I last saw her, with hate in her cold gray eyes and the skin of her throat charred and flaking.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e She shouldn’t have survived the poison. If I hadn’t seen her with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it. Part of me is relieved that she did, though the other part will never forget how she looked at me when she promised to raze Astrea to the ground, how she said she would ask the Kaiser if she could keep my head after he executed me.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e I flop down on my back, hitting the thin pillow with a thud. My whole body aches with exhaustion, but my mind is a whirl of activity that shows no sign of quieting. Still, I close my eyes tight and try to banish all thoughts of Cress, though she lingers on the edges, a ghost of a presence.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The room is too quiet--so quiet it takes on a sound all its own. I hear it in the absence of my Shadows’ breaths, their infinitesimal movements as they fidget, their whispers to one another. It is a deafening sort of silence. I turn onto one side, then the other. I shiver and pull the quilt tighter around me; I feel the fire of Cress’s touch again and kick the quilt off entirely, so that it falls in a heap onto the floor.\u003cbr\u003e  ","brand":"Ember","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305311588581,"sku":"NP9781524767136","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781524767136.jpg?v=1767731086","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/lady-smoke-isbn-9781524767136","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}