Nikki McCormack

At five years old, Kasiel was found with the pointed ends of his ears cut off. Despite that brutal start, he’s lived twelve peaceful years with the man who took him in. Keeping his hair long over his mutilated ears helps him hide the fact that he is Vanrian, a child of the enemy.

Feisty teenage thief Maeko and her fellow pickpocket Chaff scrape out a meager existence in Victorian London’s gritty streets. When a near-disastrous heist leads her to a mysterious clockwork cat and two dead bodies, she’s thrust into a murder mystery that may cost her everything she holds dear.

Maeko hasn’t been long away from the London streets, and she’s already learning that civilized life comes with its challenges. She must dress proper, eat proper, and be a proper lady. She can’t even talk to a boy without a chaperone. If not for her feline companion Macak, she might lose her mind.

Since finding the cat Macak, Maeko has gone from living as a pickpocket on the streets of London to becoming deeply enmeshed in rising hostilities between the Pirates and the Literati.

Raven could learn to enjoy a life where her biggest concern is chasing off beasts that stray too close to town, but the silver-eyed shadow haunting her sleep has her on edge. Then a man she never expected to see again warns her that the Silverblood Brotherhood is hunting her once more.

Raven was eight when her parents were murdered. Now it’s happened again. Her guardian murdered. Their home destroyed. She can hunt and fight, but life in isolation hasn’t prepared her for survival outside the forest.

The Silverblood Brotherhood wants Raven dead. Even the law of the land allows their doctrine to dictate her fate. It’s beginning to look like letting the Brotherhood win may be the only way to protect those she loves.