Gate of Thorns

Two fugitives flee across the Plains of Thirst. One is Almakai, former God-Queen of Maseko, now stripped of her immortality. The other is Elosha, once aming her junior consorts, now her last remaining husband. An uneasy alliance of shapeshifters, spurred by a foreign power, pursues Alma and Elosha through punishing country. Alma must rediscover how to be mortal, and Elosha must remember how to be human. Trapped and facing overwhelming odds, they must decide whether their changing relationship can survive desperation, bloodshed, and twisted magic.

'Gate of Thorns' is a novelette, the second volume of the Songs of Esoka, directly following the events of 'Bone Dancer's War.'