SacredFateChroniclesof YlandreEresse(c)2009SacredFateChroniclesof YlandreEressePublished2009ISBN978-1-59578-595-4Publishedby Liquid Silver Books, imprint of Atlantic Bridge Publishing, 10509Sedgegrass Dr, Indianapolis, Indiana 46235. Copyright 2009,Eresse. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any formor by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise,without the prior written permission of the author.Manufacturedin the United States of AmericaLiquidSilver Bookshttp://LSbooks.comEmail:raven@LSbooks.comEditorDevinGovaereCoverArtistAnneCainThisis a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in thisbook are of the authors imagination and are not to be construed asreal. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, iscompletely coincidental.BlurbInthe dual-gendered realm of Ylandre, the great divide between thehigh-born True Bloods and the lower-ranked Half Bloods is deemedimpassable by most. Rohyr Essendri dared to cross it when he tookyoung Lassen Idana from his provincial town and made him hisparamour. Lassen perforce learned how to navigate the intricatebyways of life at court. What he never expected, however, was to fallin love with Rohyr, a mostinadvisableand impractical thing to do when ones lover is sovereign ruler ofthe land. But anything worth having is worth fighting for, bothfiguratively and, as Lassen discovers, literally speaking. Containshermaphrodism and explicit homoerotic sexual encounters.Note:Glossary of terms at end of book.PrologueGenesisYlandre,in the 1009th year of the Common AgeSheleft with a sigh so faint the physician almost did not hear it. Herchest barely heaved with that final breath; her wrinkle-framed lipsscarcely moved. The healer gently pressed his fingers to the looseflesh at the sides of her throat then lifted her thin wrist. He shookhis head and looked up.VeironEssendri curtly nodded. He watched the family gather around her inmourning.Itwas no coincidence that the Ardan of mighty Ylandre had attended anold female on her deathbed. She was just a commoner but she was alsothe last of her kind in the land. And so he had come as soon as wordreached him of her imminent passing. Veiron looked at the kinsfolkshe had left behindbrothers, cousins, nephews, great-nephews. Nota one sprung from her for no one had taken her to mate. How couldthey when her form had no longer found favor with the folk of hertownship or even her own blood relations? She, whose ancestors werethe firstborn of Aisen, had lived her life and departed it a virtualstranger in the world of her birth.Veironsigned to his counsellor to give her family a bag of coins to helpdefray the cost of the funeral. They received it in timid silence,the eldest thanking the king in hushed tones. Veiron acknowledgedtheir gratitude then stepped out of the chamber.Whenhe returned to the capital he retreated to his study and took out hisjournal. He needed to record the demise of the last female not onlyin his realm but also in the entire continent. He was not the onlysovereign to do so. Female-kind vanished in the continents of Lydanand South Vihandra during his sires reign. Arvalde had only ascant handful left and Khitaira maybe twice that number at most. Butthey were all in their twilight years, these spouseless, childless,kindredless daughters of Aisen. They would leave the world beforeVeirons eldest came to the throne.Itwas a death knell for their