DESTINED by prophecy. GUARDED by deception. PURSUED by Love.

Centuries ago, an oracle foretold of the young woman who would defeat E’veria’s most ancient enemy, the Cobelds. But after two centuries of relative peace, both the prophecy and the Cobelds have been relegated to lore—and only a few remain watchful for the promised Ryn.

Finally, a child is born who matches the oracle’s description, but a Cobeld curse accompanies her birth. Led to believe they succeeded in killing the prophesied child, the Cobelds emerge from hiding with plans to overtake the Kingdom.

But the child survived.

Secreted away and called “Rose” for the first nineteen years of her life, Rynnaia E’veri has no idea of her true identity until a chance meeting with an injured knight reveals not only her parentage and true name, but the task assigned her by the oracle: discover the Remedy that will destroy the Cobelds’ power.

Now, her time has come.

Offered the assistance of pirates, scribes, storytellers, a young woman who died centuries ago, and the knight who is quickly working his way into her heart, Rynnaia is fortified with friends. But if the Ryn is to complete her task, she must come to terms with not only who she is, but for whom she must be willing to die. For the kingdom’s survival depends on her.

Here’s a snippet from my endorsement:

“Serena Chase’s The Ryn is a beautifully rendered allegorical fantasy that captured my imagination from the beginning, my heart halfway through, and my soul by the final pages……Simply put, I adored The Ryn and can’t wait to dive into The Remedy.” ~ Rel

Here’s a glimpse of the story from Serena:

The night was thick with heavy sleet that made the ground treacherous in the sloping yard. Rose inched her way around the side of the house, holding firmly to the hilt of her dagger. She was almost to the corner when her eye caught the light of the opening door reflected in the snow.

Rose moved around the corner of the lodge just into time to see a huge, beastly shadow rear up through the path of light.

A high-pitched gasp broke through the darkness as the form lurched toward Alaine. Rose’s heart froze in her chest. But Alaine jumped back just in time to avoid being crushed. Her movement, however unintentional, bumped the door the rest of the way open and cleared the creature’s path into the house.

Rose’s dagger was up in an instant. She rushed forward, poised to throw, but just as she let the blade loose her right boot hit a patch of ice. Failing to find traction, she slipped on the frozen ground and lost her balance. The dagger left her grasp in that instant, its aim skewed by her sudden fall.

Sprawling sideways across the layer of ice that covered the yard, Rose watched in horror as the dagger grazed the assailant’s forearm and just missed impaling Alaine’s shoulder before imbedding itself in the doorframe.

The creature collapsed. What was it? A bear that hadn’t yet found its place to sleep for the winter?

The corner of the front porch finally stopped Rose’s slippery passage, but the impact jarred her shoulder and sent her sprawling to her backside.

“Is that you, Rose?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I told you to hide!” Alaine scolded. “What are you doing out there?” 

“Protecting you!” Rose cried. “Now stay back from that animal! It could hurt you!”

Grasping the porch’s railing, Rose awkwardly gained her feet and moved as quickly up the steps as the sleet and ice would allow.

Collapsed in a heap, half-in and half-out of the house, the giant creature did not move, but she didn’t know what it was, and therefore, didn’t trust it. With a stealthy motion she hoped her aunt would not see, Rose pulled her dagger from the doorframe.

“Help us get him in the house, Rose.”

“Get him in the house? No!” she cried as Alaine and Lily knelt at the creature’s side. “Are you out of your minds? We can’t possibly take a bear into the—”

Rose stopped short as her gaze travelled the length of the creature. She tilted her head. “Is this animal wearing . . .” she paused and blinked several times, “boots?”

Lily braced her feet and tugged one of the creature’s arms, each syllable coming forth as more of a grunt than a word, “It’s. Not. A. Bear.”

If the situation had not been so ridiculously dangerous, Rose would have been tempted to laugh at the sight of her petite aunt and cousin so ineffectively pouring their full strength into moving the hulking lump of strangely booted fur.

“A little, ugh, help, please?” Lily grunted.

“Oh. Oh!” Rose knelt near the back of the creature. She gripped the dark brown fur with passing wonder at whether Rowlen’s story about the Bear-men of Mynissbyr was, in fact, more accurate than Ayden’s.

At her first shove, the heap of fur groaned what sounded like human speech but quieted at Alaine’s gentle words. “It is all right now, you are safe. There are no Cobelds here, sir.”

“Cobelds?!” Rose dropped the leg she was holding with a thud that produced another groan.

“Rose, please. A little care.” An annoyed glance from her aunt propelled Rose back into action. Finally, the three women were able to get the gargantuan pile of fur into the house.

Rose’s estimation of a bear at the door had not been far off. The man wore a huge bearskin cloak. Its hood was the head of the animal, complete with bared fangs and open eyes. Tiny icicles hung from the animal’s useless ears and snout, making a mess of the floor as they melted within the warmth of the old lodge. Beneath the bearskin cloak he wore several other lighter layers, which made him seem even larger than he probably was. But one look at the stranger’s face revealed a fur-like beard that contrasted golden against the brown fur of the bearskin, and it was clear he was, after all, human.

 “Look at his scabbard!” Alaine gasped. “It carries the King’s seal.”

“He’s a knight,” Lily whispered. “He may have information about why Father has been delayed. Oh!” She pointed to his arm. “Mother, he’s bleeding! Rose, help me apply pressure to the wound.”

He’s a knight? Guilt stained Rose’s cheeks at the evidence of her dagger’s path.

She pulled the cloak’s hood from her head so she could better assist her cousin, tossing her unbound copper hair over one shoulder to get it out of the way.

If I hadn’t slipped on the ice, she thought as she pressed the hem of her cloak against the wound, I might have killed a knight!

Aunt Alaine knelt next to the knight and gently touched his swollen and heavily bearded face. “You are among friends, sir. Open your eyes.”

The knight’s eyelids fluttered, but closed before focusing.

“Sir,” Alaine continued, “as limited as our resources may be, we would offer you protection this night. But you must rouse yourself enough that we might move you without causing further injury.”

The knight’s eyes squeezed tightly shut, opened, and repeated the exercise several times. As his vision focused, he looked directly at Rose.

“How can it be that I am with you?” His voice was deep and raspy, as if he had been out in the cold for a very long time. Confusion clouded his features. “Is this a dream?”

Rose opened her mouth to speak, but her voice was arrested by the brilliant emerald hue of his eyes. The knight blinked again and his eyes cleared.

The shade of his eyes was a green so darkly brilliant that it could rival any shade of that color found in the Wood. Beautiful. The intensity of the trust on his face made it appear as if he had known her his whole life and was quite comfortable in her presence.

And indeed, Rose puzzled, there was something familiar about this knight. But she was quite sure she had never laid eyes on him before. If he was indeed a knight, and therefore no danger to them, why, then, did her stomach lurch so and her breath come faster to be caught in his gaze?

“I am dead, then?” He held Rose’s gaze, speaking as if the prospect of death held no fear for him. “Did the Cobelds finish me?”

“You’re not dead,” she said finally and almost laughed. A sharp glance from her aunt stilled the bubble of sound from escaping. “Sir, if you are being pursued we cannot guarantee your life will not yet be forfeit.” She frowned. “And if you are, in fact, being pursued by Cobelds, you have put us all in danger.”

“Rose!”

“Honestly, Lily, it’s the truth!”

“It is,” Alaine agreed. “We must get him inside and out of sight.”

Rose looked down and realized she held his hand, but his eyes never left her face. He seemed coherent enough to follow directions, but little more than that.

“Sir, I am passing tall, but I can’t carry your weight myself and my friends do not share my height. I fear transporting you shall be quite awkward.”

“My apologies, my lady.”

“Are you able to stand at all?”

The knight gave a pained nod. “I am weak, but I will try.”

Each movement evidenced his pain. With some effort he rolled to his side, and after a few moments, finally to his hands and knees.

“Lily.” Rose locked an arm beneath his shoulder and motioned her cousin to do the same. Finally, the knight stood. “Lean on me,” she said. “I’m more able to bear your weight.”

  With the cloak removed the knight was not nearly so monstrous. Although he was quite tall—at least as tall as Sir Gladiel in Rose’s quick estimation—he was not as gigantic as he had looked with the bear’s head resting atop his own. Suddenly, his body sagged.

“Stay with me.” Rose placed his arm around her neck, her shoulder under his shoulder, and her arm about his waist. His steps slowed as his head lolled, then snapped back up. “You can do it,” she said. “Just a little bit further, now.”

While Lily and Rose were coaxing the knight to stand, Alaine lit another lamp and moved down the hall.