She's not a good queen, but she's mine.
Kate knows two things: never back down from a fight, and always protect the ones you love. Unfortunately, Kate doesnât realize that her feral fighting style is just what Betrayal, the daughter of Death, needs.
Without warning, Betrayal whisks Kate away to the Otherworld, demanding Kate become her human champion. The deal is simple: help Betrayal defeat her father, and Kate can return home. But, trust doesn't come easily for Kate, especially when her new ally is the literal embodiment of treachery. Yet, despite Kateâs better judgment, an unwelcome desire emergesâa desire to corner the captivating villain and make her beg.
A sweeping epic fantasy with a slow-burn sapphic romance that will leave you obsessed.
All hail the Queen.
She's not a good queen, but she's mine.
Kate knows two things: never back down from a fight, and always protect the ones you love. Unfortunately, Kate doesnât realize that her feral fighting style is just what Betrayal, the daughter of Death, needs.
Without warning, Betrayal whisks Kate away to the Otherworld, demanding Kate become her human champion. The deal is simple: help Betrayal defeat her father, and Kate can return home. But, trust doesn't come easily for Kate, especially when her new ally is the literal embodiment of treachery. Yet, despite Kateâs better judgment, an unwelcome desire emergesâa desire to corner the captivating villain and make her beg.
A sweeping epic fantasy with a slow-burn sapphic romance that will leave you obsessed.
All hail the Queen.
Kate
Sometimes I hate Jax.
I hate being her errand girl. Her bodyguard. Her personal shopper. I hate how she canât keep her shit together for more than a day, and I have to clean it up.
âDid it have to be this guy?â I ask, heaving on the pavement, clutching where Jaxâs latest benefactor has punched me in the stomach. The man is, for sure, a descendant of mammoths.
âIâm sorry,â Jax says for the hundredth time, crouching next to me, dabbing blood off my fist. âHe seemed dumb enough at first. Free drinks, you know?â
âWho can resist a free daiquiri?â I wince.
Mammoth wipes sweat from his forehead. At least I got him sweating, though that might just be this god-awful summer night.
Jax tugs at my T-shirt. Sheâs squatting next to the dumpster Iâve decided to make my new home. Itâs a comfortable dumpsterâI could rest here forever.
âIâve seen you take out bigger guys than this,â she says. âJust do one of your spin moves.â
âSpin moves?â I try to rise, but my side is throbbing. âI would love to do that, please tell me how.â
âIâd love that too,â Mammoth says, no longer breathing heavily. Heâs ready to go again. âShow me a spin.â
I groan. We could call the cops, but thatâs a joke with our records. We could run, but this is our bar. Our alleyway. Our dumpster.
âWhat about a deal?â I ask, blowing pinkish bangs out of my eyes. âYou leave Jax alone, and I wonât show you one of my deadly spin moves.â
âWeâre a little past that,â Mammoth says, raising his fists.
âHow about never fight a woman?â I try. Sometimes it works.
âOh, is that what you are?â
I sigh and rub my hand, swollen from several jabs to Mammothâs jaw. I donât technically know how to fight. I was never trained. Just lots of experience being a reactive teenager who got into fights because it felt better than dealing with the abandonment issues. At least, thatâs what my court-ordered therapist said. Now, I fight in dubious boxing matches to pay the bills and take any free class I can find. Mostly online videos.
âFine, Iâll make you a deal,â Mammoth concedes. âYou beat it. Go back to whatever dump you call home. And your little friend and I can get back to what we were doingâfinding out whatâs under that dress.â
My swollen hand manages to make a fist.
âHow about I just rip out your hair plugs instead?â I say, climbing to my feet.
Betrayal
It is impossible to know what awaits me when walking through a Door. So far, in my excursions to the human world, I have found nothing but polluted streets, unbearable noise, and drunk, sweaty mortals. I am beginning to dread the nights spent combing through the vast array of humans who have nothing to offer. No fire, no conquering spirit.
I have to choose one. Just one human. And the bigger, the better.
Tonight, the Door opens into a muggy alleyway where a golden-haired man stands over a broad-shouldered woman. They have been fighting, the woman sporting a bleeding fist and the man a split lip.
I stick to the shadows. This man is clearly a brute, and brutes tend to thrive in my land. I wonder if he has the mettle I need.
Another woman crouches behind her broad-shouldered companion. She is pretty, unlike her companion, who doesnât seem to have the patience for pretty. The broad-shouldered woman is reaching for something in the shadows.
I watch, curious.
Iâm betting on the giant.
Kate
I walk behind the dumpster. Both Jax and Mammoth watch as I grab a steel pipe I noticed earlier. Using a pipe is definitely fighting dirty since Mammoth doesnât have a weapon. But screw it, he threatened Jax.
âHey now,â Mammoth says as I approach, and his hand goes to his pocket. Is he reaching for a knife? A gun? I donât wait to find out.
I slam the pipe into his kneecap.
Mammoth howls, and as he goes down I drive the pipe straight into his balls. I step back as he falls, staying out of reach, twirling the pipe in my hand.
âWanna hear a joke?â I ask as Mammoth hunches over.
Mammoth is holding his balls tenderly. He doesnât seem to care about fighting anymore.
I crouch down. âWhy did the trashy barman have to move in with his mom?â
Mammoth shakes his head.
I pat his shoulder with the pipe. âBecause he threatened my girlfriend.â
Mammoth snorts. âThatâs not a joke.â
âSure it is,â I say, offended. âThatâll blow your balls off. Oops, sorry, guess that already happened.â
Mammoth pushes my pipe off his shoulder.
âWell, time to crawl back to the Sanitation Department,â I say, standing.
âGive me a second,â he says, gesturing to his knee. âI canât walk.â
âOr take a joke,â I say, pulling him to his feet. âHospital is to the left.â I gesture with the pipe. âSee ya.â
Mammoth limps away, muttering about bitches ripping him off. When heâs gone, I slump to the ground, back against the dumpster, and drop the pipe. Iâve never used a pipe, but it did a phenomenal job.
Jax sits beside me, unfazed by my extreme methods. Sheâs seen me do worse.
âLook, I know youâre going to lecture me,â she says, âbut he seemed decent at first. He remembered my name.â
âThatâs the barest possible minimum.â I sigh, wishing as always I wasnât such a failure. That I made enough to pay for whatever drink Jax wanted, so she wouldnât have to fake flirt with sloppy creeps. Move her into a safer neighborhood. Give her the housewife life. Rescue some dogs.
âMaybe I should give community college another try,â I say.
Jax snorts. âForget that.â
âBecause Iâm too dumb?â I tease. Ms. Peters, the foster mom we shared for a year, always told me I was too dumb for college. I vowed to show her, but she was rightâIâm an idiot. All I can do is fight and keep Jax out of trouble.
âYouâre not dumb,â Jax says. âYouâre just not built for sitting in a classroom.â
We fall silent, listening to car horns and someone laughing drunkenly. Itâs midnight, but we donât move. My ribs need a rest.
Someone approaches. Mammoth has come back. Good grief, I canât fight him again.
But it isnât Mammoth. Itâs a woman, way too nicely dressed for out here. Sheâs got epic black hair, super long, framing a face made of angles. Despite it being night and the streetlights dim, her eyes seem to glow.
She stops in front of us, and the hairs on the back of my neck rise. I typically listen to my body before my brain. Itâs generally smarter.
This woman is bad news.
âI enjoyed your fight,â the woman says. She has an accent I donât recognize. Definitely not from this Southern suburbia shithole. And she has wicked eyeliner that forms into points on her upper eyelids. It makes her look like an emotionally unavailable CEOâgorgeous and ready to fire your ass.
âIf you liked it so much, Iâm taking donations,â I say, scratching a mosquito bite on my ankle. âCash only.â
This woman is probably a good several inches taller than me. Sheâs wearing a tailored black suit with a sheer corset shirt and pants that end above her ankles, showing off a lethal pair of heels. Around her neck hangs a carving of a raven.
She reaches out a hand to help me up. Her nails look like they are made of metal. Sheâs missing a pinky.
I take her hand, letting her pull me to my feet, and her fingernail stabs my palm.
âOuch,â I gasp, pulling free. She actually stabbed me. Iâm bleeding. Again.
âI apologize,â the woman says, but she doesnât look apologetic. Her hand balls into a fist.
I suck the blood off my palm. âCome on, Jax,â I say, helping Jax up with my blood-free hand.
The woman is looking me over with poison-green eyes.
âI can give you a different life.â
âNo, thanks,â I say. I thought maybe this woman was rich because her clothes are so sleek, but sheâs probably just some MLM lady who will suck Jax into another pyramid scheme. âWe already have a foolproof system for getting free drinks. Doesnât get much better than that.â
âI said different, not better. You will see.â
âGet out of my way.â Iâm done being polite.
The woman slides to the side, letting us pass. We leave, Jax looking back, but not me. If the woman follows, Iâll knock her teeth out.
We turn a corner, and both breathe a sigh of relief.
âWeirdo,â I say.
âItâs been one of those nights,â Jax agrees. âLetâs get some watermelon gummies.â
Betrayal
Looks like the fourth time's the charm.
I examine my hand. On my palm is one drop of the humanâs blood. Perfect.
She was perfect. The way she went for the manâs knee, protecting her friend despite being so outmatched.
I shiver in the sweltering heat. She is what I have been searching for.
Luckily, neither of the women noticed the charm I slipped into my chosen oneâs pocket.
I place the precious drop of blood into a vial. Itâs barely anything. Hopefully, itâs enough, and my search is over and I never have to wear these ridiculous shoes again.
Time to go home and begin the hunt in earnest.
Because who knows where my human will end up?
Kate
Jax doesnât let go of my arm as we walk.
I know weâre codependency at its finest, but in moments like these, where we both survived another night of mayhem, Iâm reminded of the only constant I have in this world:
Jax.
Jax has always been there. Always. In the group homes. Or when we were split up with different families, but still called every night. At seventeen, we both declared emancipation and moved in together. Sheâs the only stable thing Iâve known.
Jax says weâre in love. On my darkest nights, when sheâs asleep and Iâm holding her in my arms, I beg her silently to actually love me. Because if she really loved me, she would notice how scared I am for her. How she can sleep like a log while I stay up, barely keeping it together, worrying about the next scrape sheâll get herself into.
It would be nice if Jax went to community college so I could take a night off. She could do it. Sheâs the smart one. If she went to college, maybe I could relax enough to figure out what I want.
âIs your hand ok?â Jax asks.
âYeah,â I say, looking at the puncture wound from that ladyâs nail. âIâll wrap it up at home.â
Jax nudges me toward the gas station. âGummies.â
I pull open the glass door.
âAfter you,â I say, and Jax saunters inside the iridescently lit building.
I step in after her.
But it isnât a gas station I walk into. Itâs a forest.
What would you do if the morally dubious Incarnate of Betrayal brought you to her world to win the throne from Death himself? Kate has the answer to that question in The Queen of Treachery as we see her journey of surviving this new land and Betrayal herself. However, she finds that even if she doesn't completely trust the Incarnate, there is something growing between them. In this isekai story with a very slow-burning love story, readers won't help but be drawn in just to see how the story ends.
Getting right into the action we see Kate as someone who is willing to take whatever damage she has to take and give to protect the ones she cares for. In the opening scene, the person who she is protecting is her foster sister Jax, who also serves as her motivation for getting back home. That is also what has Betrayal notice her for her plan to take over the throne of the Incarnates. Using trickery and harming allies Kate finds herself in the land of the immortal Incaranates, godlike beings born from attributes from nature and the cosmos. Betrayal, born from the first betrayal, seeks the throne making her a feared entity among many of the other Incarnates.
The reader sees the story through both Kate and Betrayalâs points of view, seeing how they think of each other and navigate the world they are in. Over time we see Betrayal and Kate develop feelings for each other. While I do like a slow burn, its obvious there is a massive power imbalance between the two that can be uncomfortable at times. Such the instances where Betrayal keeps taking things from Kate and giving her an ultimatum to return home. Despite that, the author does a great job with worldbuilding and making it do the reader is instantly drawn in. Especially when Kate is an easily relatable character who has reasonable reactions to the situation she finds herself in. Fans of fantasy and isekai fiction will easily get hooked and see it through to the end.