The Nightward: Book One of the Waters of Lethe: 1

Sturgeon, Nebula, Locus, and Ignyte awards finalist R.S.A. Garcia’s epic fantasy debut novel―the first in a duology―in which Caribbean mythology meets The Witcher, introduces a world where women warrior-magicians rule, and a child princess and her bodyguard must flee an attempted coup and evade the wave of dark magic sent to kill her.

For 500 years Gaiea’s Hand has stood as a ward against the Dark. The Age of Chaos is a faded memory. The Goddess has left Gailand and given her Blessing to the Queens to rule in her stead.

Princess Viella of the court of Hamber is the Spirit of Gaiea, presumptive heir to the throne and budding wielder of magic. And yet she’s still a child―not yet ten years old―and a day spent evading her teachers and her dutiful bodyguard, Luka, is much more satisfying than learning about telepathy, illusions, and other spells, or obeying even her mother, the Queen.

There is time enough…until there isn’t.

For the night the Queen hosts the Ceremony to confirm Viella as the next Hand of Gaiea, everything changes in a storm of political intrigue and betrayal: the assassination of Viella’s mother.

Now Viella is Queen.

Luka, her reluctant royal bodyguard, does not hesitate despite resenting his position as royal babysitter. He rushes his charge from the Court and vows to keep her safe. Yet he is unsure how to help a burgeoning Hand of Gaiea, let alone contend with his place as a man in a matriarchal world and the secret that is burning inside him.

Together, they are on the run from darkness in a world where the lines between magic and technology are blurring and it’s up to a child and her protector to bring clarity and light back to the Queendom.

R.S.A. Garcia is a Nebula Award winning writer of speculative fiction. She is also the winner of the MIFRE Media Award, and a Sturgeon, Locus and Ignyte Award finalist.

Her Amazon Bestselling science fiction mystery, Lex Talionis, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and the Silver Medal for Best Scifi/Fantasy/Horror Ebook from the Independent Publishers Awards (2015).

She has published short fiction in venues such as Clarkesworld Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, Escape Pod, Strange Horizons and Internazionale Magazine. Her stories have been long-listed for the British Science Fiction Awards, translated into several languages, and included in a number of anthologies, including the critically acclaimed The Best of World SF, The Best Science Fiction of the Year, and The Apex Book of World SF. Her scifantasy duology, beginning with The Nightward, is forthcoming from Harper Voyager in October, 2024.

She lives in Trinidad and Tobago with an extended family and too many cats. Learn more at rsagarcia.com.