Hearts in Cups

THE PENTACLE WAR: Book One - Hearts In CupsCandace Gylgayton *A quest to find a lost prince. A duke goes to war to be made a king. A young man and woman discover love in a season of strife. A woman of arcane power exceeds her own expectations, to the damnation of them all.* Upheaval and change are in the wind. A throne sits empty as the stories of a prince, long deemed lost, are once more being told. The Pentarchy, a vast kingdom ruled by the five Great Houses, finds itself on the sword’s edge of civil war. Far from home, family or friends, Hollin, the Head of the Great House of Langstraad, a woman of charm with a will of adamant, rides forth to use her powers political and arcane to prevent the destruction of the Pentarchy. “As a child, my father taught me to ride, to fly a hawk and to wield a sword. I have never climbed through unknown mountains, but I am not afraid to try." Within the walls of Castle Lir, Hollin’s beloved cousin, Ian de Medicat, is forced to marry an unwilling bride in order to secure an alliance ensuring that Langstraad will not stand alone when tides of war wash against it. "You have been born and raised in a Great House, my lady. Think of how alliances are truly cemented: either by mutual physical gains of property or by marriage; and those got through the familial alliances of marriage are the stronger and harder to dissolve. I need this alliance to keep Langstraad safe and, like it or not, you are the key that I have bargained for." In Dacara, at the Scholastium Arcana, the Mage Masters turn deaf ears to the pleas of those asking them to come forth and help preserve the integrity of the Pentarchy. “Neither we nor any under our rule will wage warfare of any kind within the Pentarchy." The threat of war seems fated to become a reality. Soon men will be betrayed and murdered, armies will assemble and something not of this world shall find an entrance into it. As the bonds of temporal and magical forces that hold the Pentachy together begin to dissolve, both men and women will learn all too well where the lust for power can lead the unscrupulous – and the unwary. “…once the game has been set in motion it will go on whether you will or no." Evocative and atmospheric, The Pentacle War - Book One: Hearts in Cups is filled with the action of adventure, intrigue, deception and magic. It is a story of heroic deeds and romantic exploits. It is the story of one woman whose strength of character and clarity of vision propel her and the people who love and come to love her into a battle to save themselves and all they cherish. THE PENTACLE WAR continues with Book Two: Swords and Wands, coming Summer 2013!About the AuthorCandace Gylgayton Indie author Candace Gylgayton was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts, but spent her earliest years in Tokyo, Japan, before relocating to the Bay Area of California where she has lived ever since. Candace received her B.A. with departmental honours from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she wrote her thesis on the uses of iconographic images in Byzantine art. A self-acknowledged history geek, many of her stories reflect her fascination with the never-ending story of human beings. Along with a handful of short stories, some of which can be read at her website www.candacegylgayton.com, she is the author of the fantasy duet The Pentacle War, which is comprised of Hearts in Cups (Book One) and Swords and Wands (Book Two).