I have it from reliable sources that Persephone’s first effort, ‘The Frozen Balance,’ will soon be available at Lulu.com as a paperback, download and as an e-book. This is a revised version, so those who read it when it was previously posted will find some interesting and enjoyable changes.

Nancy Cole

The Balance that maintains the peace and harmony of the two kingdoms is in danger. Like the society it protects it has become frozen and brittle and the first red cracks of turmoil and strife are appearing.

In the border keep of Avaren the young Lord Sarrell's ambition to lead the toughest troops in Therysia, ‘The Queen’s Scouts’, burns within him like a flame and leads him to make an oath to the Goddess.

But like all such oaths, the cost will be high.

At the festival of the Solstice the Goddess reaches out and a cataclysmic change engulfs Sarrell. To his horror the young warrior now finds he has become a girl, trapped within skirts and damned never to achieve his ambition. Named Seren after the Goddess’ star, a different path beckons and she swiftly finds herself caught up in the bitter intrigues of the royal court as lady in waiting to the Princess Melisande. Unlike most ladies in waiting however, Seren decides to deal with threats her own way and the shadowy warrior ‘Shade’ is born.

In a final bid to maintain peace between the two kingdoms of Therysia and Sarl Princess Melisande is betrothed to Justal, King of Sarl and she and Seren are thrown into a foreign court riven by tension and dissent. A palace coup by Justal’s younger brother explodes around them and Seren must fight to save her friends and the very Balance that protects the Kingdoms.