The Lords' Gambit Series, Volume 1

Genre: Dark Epic Fantasy

Six fallen lords. Three vengeful goddesses. And one mortal, damned to prophesy for them all.

An Exiled Oracle

Nariah, the Heiress of Ellonai, is dead. An exiled, desert-dwelling Doomsayer is all that remains within the shell of the powerful princess she once was.

A Heretic

She isn't sure which of her visions her people hate more: the one where the three benevolent goddesses they serve have decided to destroy the world, or the vision of six lords falling from the skies to save them.

The World's Only Hope

Stumbling across the very lords she's been seeing in her visions for years, only Nariah's accursed gift of Sight can aid the lords in their rebellion against the goddesses, and determine the fate of her world before it's turned to ash.

But does she even want to save those who've wronged her?

A whole new take on mythological fantasy awaits in this thrilling dark epic by USA Today Bestselling Author Katherine D. Graham.

**This is not a standalone novel, though each book in The Lords' Gambit series follows a different main character. Book two, Monk of Death, is available for pre-order now.**

Excerpt

(The Lords’ Gambit Series: Volume One)

Fall From Grace

Torrential rain fell upon the six most powerful lords of Trellana as they fled through the dead of night. Rising up with sentience at the call of three pursuing goddesses, the very mud beneath the lords formed clawed hands. Muddy fingernails bit into the lords’ legs like daggers. A swing of a sword, mace, or axe freed their feet, their golden blood boiling the earth wherever it fell.

Life, ironically, fell first. The hands of the earth seized his shining locks, trapping Life to the ground as the living mud covered him like a smothering blanket. A cry ripped from Life’s lungs as his ribs cracked beneath the pressure.

The goddesses would find him soon. As if the very thought of them summoned them to his side, a flash auburn hair which was literally aflame drifted into his vision.

Irony, the cruelest goddess, found him first.

The rain stopped, and the clouds above him—only him; the torrents continued to fall everywhere else—opened to a glorious night sky.

A coiled silver whip was wrapped taught around one of her flexed biceps. Her ashen skin reflected within the flames of her hair as she advanced on the fallen lord, her golden teeth gleaming in the bright light of the full moon.

Life turned his eyes to the cloudless sky one final time before the mud circled up his neck and covered his face. Tendrils of it prodded at every orifice, desperate to bring an end to the lord who created all sentient beings but left the dirt itself lifeless. Uncountable millennia’s worth of anger and bitterness from an object Life never gave much thought to literally crushed in on him.

He could not die, but the earth could steal the soul from his temporary corporal form, distributing it within itself to trap the lord for eternity.

As Life’s heart pounded and his mouth gaped for air, only one other soul in his entire world mattered.

A soul both cruel of heart and chivalrous beyond measure. A soul so dazzling to look upon, that mortals threw themselves at his altar in prayer to receive just a glimpse of him in their final moments.

No, Life couldn’t die without seeing him one last time. Besides, it would be better for a brother to take his soul than the abomination this accursed goddess had summoned.

Thrusting his arm straight up, his hand broke through the rapidly drying ground as he attempted what became a voiceless cry for the compliment of his soul.

“Death!”

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About the Author

Katherine D. Graham is a USA Today Bestselling fantasy author from Tennessee (USA). She is also a developmental editor and Reedsy Reviewer.

Katherine’s debut indie Epic Fantasy novel, The Vow That Twisted Fate, is an Amazon bestselling New Adult Fantasy and Occult Fiction novel, a Fantasy finalist in the 2021 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and a five-star IndieReader-approved novel.

The USA Today Bestselling "Realm of Darkness" box set launched in October 2022, which included Katherine's full-length Dark Fantasy Romance novel "Splitting Dawn".

Katherine holds a BA in Foreign Language/Lit: Japanese from the University of Memphis in Tennessee, where she also studied English (and editing). She worked for the Memphis Public Library and Information Center in her college years, and is still a vocal supporter of the Friends of the Memphis Public Library.

In addition to the library system, Katherine actively raises support for the St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, The House of Mews cat sanctuary, the Memphis Zoo, and Swim Across America.

Katherine loves adventures, especially traveling. She also enjoys cooking, reading, and spending time with her family and three cats.

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