Pursuit of Power

In a world where women experience the absence of power, they must create their own.In Masunbria, a land of calculating royals and imperial politics, any daughter born with royal blood is presented as a child bride-an offering to a cruel culture that waged war in the land for centuries. Upon the birth of their first child-a daughter named Magdalena-the King and Queen of Masunbria resolve to keep her gender a secret and raise her as a prince they call Haluk. For twenty years the truth remains safe, and Haluk is celebrated as heir to the throne. That is until their second born, a son, Niklaus, discovers the true nature of Prince Haluk. Enraged at the betrayal and the loss of a throne that rightfully belongs to him, Niklaus reveals the treachery to his uncle Henrick - a mercurial tyrant with delusions of world domination. Henrick, with his force-of-nature wife, Thea, and his enchanting mistress Catrain by his side, convinces Niklaus to murder the king and queen and use Magdalena as a pawn to gain an alliance with the fiercest warriors ever to exist - the Typhans.Magdalena, on the run and without the respect and protection her male identity had once provided, begins to learn the truth-her brother and uncle will stop at nothing for greed and glory, even at the cost of innocent lives. Together with an aging military man, a barkeep and an escaped Typhan whom she finds herself inexplicably drawn to, Magdalena soon discovers that Haluk can't save her people -but she can.