Showing results for "The Price" in Science Fiction & Fantasy

A penniless noblewoman, Kat is on the verge of losing everything when she's offered a well-paid job that could be her salvation… or her ruin. Drawn into court's deadly intrigues, she's given a single task: spy on the powerful fae lord known as the Night Queen's Shadow. Bastian Marwood is handsome, ruthless, and cunning, but Kat can't decide if he's a threat to her kingdom or just her heart. To uncover the truth, she must play a dangerous game of desire and deceit, pushing him to reveal his secrets while protecting her own.

Zach and Ryun had both reached the Infinite Realm. As the only two survivors of the old Earth, they are the strongest Rankers that had ever arrived in the Infinite Realm. Both dropped outside of the usual arrival zone and left to fend for themselves. Each had found a way to survive. Ryun is now a Sect Head, tasked with ruling territories and people. Accepting their service in return for his protection. But while he was the strongest being on Earth, he is nothing compared to the old monsters living in the Infinite Realm.

I was a child when my father surrendered me to the Temple of All Gods. No one gave me a choice. No one even bothered to explain. I was simply tossed aside, unwanted. That was the day the God of Temptation claimed me as his. Now, I'm studying how to become the perfect priestess. Life in the temple means embracing my emotions and learning to harness each type of desire. Power, fear, lust, and rage are the most common, but not the only ones. Each has a power. Each has its place. I just have to figure out which kind of priestess I'll become.

Having escaped conscription to the Storm Towers at the last moment―thanks to some very quick train-hopping―Cymin is thrilled to at last be living his dream of seeing new lands and making friends with the fascinating secular mages outside Lux Temple. There's even a chance he could win over the enigmatic Laithondi and officially join the ranks of the student bound for Saigrath.

Cymin's final tournament representing the East Deity for Lux Temple promises to be thrilling and bittersweet. After it's done, all his skill and power must feed a Storm Tower to protect the world from fei'lux storms. But before his conscription, he intends to put on a dazzling show and enjoy his last glorious outing. The streets are thronged with cheering crowds, and the grand procession shimmers with spells. Film stars and government ministers claim the best seats in the stands.

Of all the sports played across the globe, none has more curses, superstitions, or supernatural events like baseball, America's national pastime. While some of these can easily be explained, there are just as many that cannot. Field of Fantasies delves right into that superstition with short stories written by several key authors about baseball and the supernatural.

Reais, a fractured abyss ruled by thousands of contesting Demon Lords no stranger to chaos, happens to be the birth place of a new chaos, a new threat. Punished for disbelief in a mortal life, a soul curses Deities for its unfair imprisonment and psychological torture. Set free by witless demons, this soul sees an opportunity for vengeance.

When Morgan got hit by a car and died on Earth, he never imagined that he would be chosen by a god, little g, to be taken to another planet - a World governed by game-like rules. Especially since said god liked to have people call him the Great Lord, and had basically created an entire World to run experiments in. Nor could Morgan have ever imagined that he would find one thing that he had never really had on Earth: a real family. It's been years since Morgan started his second chance at life on that world, and both he and his friends have achieved great power as part of a Great Raid.

Reeling from Bastian's revelations, Kat wakes from her dire illness wanting nothing more than to sever all ties with the man who betrayed her. But fate has a different plan—she's trapped in Elfhame, the fae realm where nothing is as it seems. And worse, she's trapped with him, reliant on his touch to stave off a poison that threatens her very life. Thrust into the center of Dusk and Dawn Courts, they must balance the two in order to maintain a delicate peace. But in a world where alliances are forged and shattered in a heartbeat, danger looms.

Bargained away to Dawn Court, Kat must play the part of a helpless human bewitched by the Day King. But beneath the veneer of submission, she's playing a far more dangerous game—spying for Dusk Court, and for the one person who holds her heart: Bastian. Separated from the woman he loves, Bastian has no time to rage against fate—or his queen. With his city on the brink of collapse and war brewing, he must uncover the truth before a devastating betrayal shatters everything he's fought to protect.

Through the Gates of the Silver Key, featured in this issue, is an extraordinary novelette that transcends the boundaries of traditional fiction. This remarkable tale ventures far beyond human experiences and even the most vivid dreams, presenting ideas and concepts that are nothing short of monumental. It is a work that defies description, as its imaginative boldness surpasses anything previously printed. Crafted by two of your favorite authors, this story is a must-read for those seeking a truly unique literary experience. - Summary by Weird Tales, July 1934

I wasn't supposed to be part of the Choosing. I forged my way in, wearing a stranger's face, chasing whispers of my lost sister. I planned to seduce. To manipulate. To survive. But I didn't plan on them. The way they watch me like prey. The way their magic coils around mine like a promise. The way they say my name like they already own it. Each man wants to break me in his own way. Take me in his own way. Together? They might unmake me entirely.

The year is 1203, and Robert Cutnose, tired of war and lonely in his immortal existence, travels to a place he has avoided for centuries, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, Constantinople. There he finds a city under siege from the crusaders of France and Venice, but dangerous elements of the Order lurk within their ranks as well.

Purgatory is the life I never knew I wanted. I'm able to release the rage I've kept locked inside my entire life. When the fog hovers above the ground, I am in one place. The Graveyard. A fighting ring where I can unleash the violence my werewolf craves. The winner of every round gets a step closer to getting out of purgatory. The loser has their existence wiped from the universe. With one drop of blood spilled, I think of her. Elouise. I remember being young and in love with a vampire I wasn't allowed to be with. Our love was forbidden. And that fuels my lividity.

When Armand Pierce first became a courier ten years ago, he had an attaché case connected to a titanium cuff grafted into the bones of his wrist, and took an oath: the delivery is everything. He can run, fight—kill, if he needs to—but the package gets where it's going. It's the Guild's guarantee, and since the internet went down in the Cyber Wars, all business, legitimate or otherwise, depends on it. Otherwise, he dies. So Pierce knows he's in deep trouble when he arrives at his latest destination to find his payload missing, his case mysteriously empty.

Salem, Massachusetts. The home of magic. The hell of the damned. The place where I rest until the end of time. There is only one way for me to wake from my coma. My beloved must find me and feed me her blood before I turn to ash. It's a rarity for a vampire to meet his blood mate. I knew when the coma took me, I'd die. In the dark. Alone. Until Maven Wildes buys my estate. Her presence at the house wakes my spirit. But not my mind.

In 1816, Elizabeth's life had been carefully planned for her. A home, a family, a life that she was trained to fill... and had never questioned if she wanted, until the future she expected was stolen from her. In the present day, Heck's hopes and dreams have been destroyed, the life she was fighting for gone in an instant. Amid the devastation of her plans, she's determined to fight for her dreams.

Enter the dark and sensual realms of the Black Jewels in this sweeping story in the New York Times bestselling fantasy saga of three young women who must navigate life within the powerful SaDiablo family—and come to terms with Witch, the Queen who is still the heart and will of that family...

Philadelphia, the late 1870s. A city of gas lamps, cobblestone streets, and horse-drawn carriages—and home to the controversial surgeon Dr. Spencer Black. The son of a grave robber, young Dr. Black studies at Philadelphia’s esteemed Academy of Medicine, where he develops an unconventional hypothesis: that the mythological beasts of legend and lore—including mermaids, minotaurs, and satyrs—were in fact humanity’s evolutionary ancestors. And beyond that, he wonders: what if there was a way for humanity to reach the fuller potential these ancestors implied?

Six years have passed since the failed uprising of the High Holders, and the man behind the conspiracy is where the rex and Maitre Alastar can keep an eye on him. Charyn has come of age and desperately wants to learn more so that he can become an effective rex after his father - but he's kept at a distance by the rex. So Charyn sets out to educate himself - circumspectly. When Jarolian privateers disrupt Solidar's shipping, someone attempts to kill Charyn's younger brother as an act of protest.