FireBorn's Legacy (Fire War #0/Fallowtide #9)

Qora Paunene Zela has never been able to glimpse the future like other Eyes of the Faulfenzair God... but he's always known where he's supposed to be, so powerfully that he never questioned it, even when it took him off-world on the Faulfenza's prototype warship, and from there into captivity and war among aliens. That those aliens should rescue him seemed fair, since they were the ones responsible for the mess they'd made of the galaxy. To a Faulfenzair's way of thinking, anyway.

But the God has called Qora abroad again, and this time even a male who knows he's in the right place at the right time isn't sanguine about the journey. It's one thing to wait on history to unfold... another entirely to follow in the footsteps of one of his people's lost prophets, on the trail of the fourth and final messiah. 

A lifetime of trusting the God may not be enough preparation for the revelations awaiting Qora at journey's end....

Fireborn's Legacy ties together the history of the Faulfenza, as told in Zafiil, and the intertwined Eldritch and Chatcaavan stories from the books of the Fallowtide Sequence. It also sets the stage for the final conflict that will unite the sapient species of the Peltedverse and all its multiple histories. Let the saga commence!

Excerpt from Chapter 1

The tower room, with its high vaults, pale stone walls, and many lancet windows open to a soft blue sky and creamy clouds, looked just as the bower of a dragon should. The Queen Ransomed’s wings and slim body belonged here, in a way that made sense of her species; having met her abroad, in circumstances that had not suited her, Qora was satisfied by this revelation, and paced the perimeter while she indulged him with the alien serenity of dragons.

When at last he lit on the pillow set out for him, she settled on the other, and the gossamers of her complex robes eased into a sheening ivory and white and orange pool around her. How similar her clothing was to the outfits designed for her on the pirate asteroid, where they’d first encountered one another… and how different, in how she wore them, and in the setting that framed her.

It was good to see her where she belonged, Qora thought. He hadn’t planned on this visit to the dragon throneworld, but in retrospect it was one of his better ideas. He’d greatly enjoyed the ride to it, and he’d been intrigued by his brief glimpses of the Other palace when the functionary led him to the Queen Ransomed’s abode. Perhaps he should not have peeked into the bathing chamber, with its multiple pools, or the closet, hidden from view sensibly by a curtain and not a door. But curiosity never strayed far from his heels, and he’d wondered how dragons nested. The answer that this dragon in particular did so without clutter, so that the view was the true décor, gratified him.

“In regards to your request for a meeting… I hope you have no pressing errands.”

“A delay,” Qora guessed, unperturbed. “Don’t worry. I didn’t think I could stroll into the ruler of a galactic nation’s parlor on a whim.” At least, not the leader of alien galactic nations, but the fractious and fallen Others could not run their governments the way Faulfenza did. “I am prepared to wait.”

“And I am pleased to host you,” the Queen said. “Are you certain you wish to stay?”

He canted his head. “Is there a reason you want me to go?”

“None,” she said. “I am pleased you are here. I have few friends. But the errand that takes my consorts away… I don’t know when they will be done with it.”

“I can wait,” Qora said. “I am exactly where I am supposed to be.”