Mages of the Wheel Series by J.D. Evans

“I like it when you shine for me, Sabri Sultan. Someday, I hope you shine for them all. So they see you like I do.” He is the future sultan, a man who wields brutal magic and only knows how to be what they’ve made him. She is a commoner, a woman who champions the vulnerable and treads where she does not belong.Dilay Akar is the daughter of a judge. By day, she trains the wealthy in magic, and by night, she breaks the Sultan’s laws... more“I like it when you shine for me, Sabri Sultan. Someday, I hope you shine for them all. So they see you like I do.” He is the future sultan, a man who wields brutal magic and only knows how to be what they’ve made him. She is a commoner, a woman who champions the vulnerable and treads where she does not belong.Dilay Akar is the daughter of a judge. By day, she trains the wealthy in magic, and by night, she breaks the Sultan’s laws. But even those closest to her do not always appreciate what she is striving for, or believe that she can achieve it.Omar Sabri is the Sultan’s tool, flaying minds open to obtain their secrets and truths. Everyone who looks at him sees only the prince—or the monster. Even he cannot see the man beneath the power and the position. When Omar secretly enlists Dilay’s help in controlling his magic, it sets off a chain of events that will reshape Tamar for generations to come. Dilay will have to choose between the familiar and the powerful. Between people she cares for. And whether to hurt one to help many.The Wheel turns for balance in all things, and where love springs, may also Wheel, she was lovely. Someone who knew exactly who they were, and what they wanted, and were moving toward it like an arrow loosed from a bow. less

Love, like fire, can burn so hotly it destroys the very thing it needs to survive.

“All magic is beautiful,” she said, “and terrible. Do you not see the beauty in yours, or the terror in mine? You can stop a heart, and I can stop your breath.” She is heir to a Sultanate that once ruled the world. He is an unwanted prince with the power to destroy. She is order and intellect, a woman fit to rule in a man's place. He is chaos and violence and will stop at nothing to protect his people. His magic answers hers with shadow for light... more“All magic is beautiful,” she said, “and terrible. Do you not see the beauty in yours, or the terror in mine? You can stop a heart, and I can stop your breath.” She is heir to a Sultanate that once ruled the world. He is an unwanted prince with the power to destroy. She is order and intellect, a woman fit to rule in a man's place. He is chaos and violence and will stop at nothing to protect his people. His magic answers hers with shadow for light. They need each other, but the cost of balance may be too high a price. Magic is dying and the only way to save it is to enlist mages who wield the forbidden power of death, mages cast out centuries ago in a brutal and bloody war. Now, a new war is coming. Science and machines to replace magic and old religion. They must find a way to save their people from annihilation and balance the sacred Wheel—but first, they will have to balance their own forbidden passion. His peace for her tempest, his restlessness for her calm… Night and day, dusk and dawn, the end, and the beginning. less

“All you see is that I run. Why haven’t you realized I always come back?” She is lightning and storm. A spy, driven out of her home by a tyrant ruler. He is granite and earth. A guard, ordered to keep her contained.To protect herself and her family, she’s learned to go unnoticed, unseen. Suddenly a refugee in a land that once was enemy and now must be home, she isn’t certain where she belongs, or what her duty is beyond her family... more“All you see is that I run. Why haven’t you realized I always come back?” She is lightning and storm. A spy, driven out of her home by a tyrant ruler. He is granite and earth. A guard, ordered to keep her contained.To protect herself and her family, she’s learned to go unnoticed, unseen. Suddenly a refugee in a land that once was enemy and now must be home, she isn’t certain where she belongs, or what her duty is beyond her family. She can’t protect them alone this time, but the only man who can help her is the only one she cannot ask.He’s sworn his loyalty to the Sultana since she lifted him out of the gutter that made him. The arrival of a foreign spy loyal to the new prince makes him question himself and his orders, and his mistakes threaten the life of the ruler he swore to serve.War will force choices of them both. She—to remain a spy, or stand and lend her powerful, untamed magic to the Sultana of Tamar. He—to remain a loyal, unquestioning guard, or learn to trust his instincts, and his heart.They are magic in opposition, earth and sky, steady and mutable. One immovable as stone, the other fast as the wind. Balance, sometimes, is chaos. He needed the storm and wildness of her, he needed the way she broke him apart. less

She was beautiful the way the ocean was beautiful. In a new way every time one looked. She is water, bright and alluring, fathomless and profound. He is a bridge between peoples, artist and criminal, vengeful and compassionate. Amara Mutar has risen to the highest ranks of Tamar society by her wits and ambition. But it is not high enough to keep those she loves, and herself, safe from a past that will not release her... moreShe was beautiful the way the ocean was beautiful. In a new way every time one looked. She is water, bright and alluring, fathomless and profound. He is a bridge between peoples, artist and criminal, vengeful and compassionate. Amara Mutar has risen to the highest ranks of Tamar society by her wits and ambition. But it is not high enough to keep those she loves, and herself, safe from a past that will not release her.Cassian Haydar has sunk as low as it is possible to sink, but he intends to take back what is his, and crush those who took everything that mattered from him—after he’s done stealing back all the other lives they’ve robbed. In exchange for a betrothal that would secure Amara’s position and freedom, the Tamaran Sultana sends her on a dangerous hunt for lost mages of the Third House, in the last place any mage should be. Amara and Cassian, brought together deep inside the Republic, discover they have nothing, and everything, in common. But their paths were never meant to converge, and there are horrors in the heart of a rising Empire that threaten both Amara’s plans and every mage in Tamar. Knowing the fate of the Circle rests in her hands, Amara must choose whether to serve her heart, or her people. He was a shore upon which she crawled from the dark deep of her magic and fell against to breathe, and taste the air again. less

She is a void, the empty balance of magic.When the Grand Vizier seeks to humiliate a man who has crossed him, a woman of the humblest origins is entangled in political webs far beyond her understanding and bound into a marriage she cannot escape. She does not know who is an ally, and who is an enemy. But she does know she is drawn to the man whose dreams and heart seem made of ice.He is a mage broken, whose magic has been warped... moreShe is a void, the empty balance of magic.When the Grand Vizier seeks to humiliate a man who has crossed him, a woman of the humblest origins is entangled in political webs far beyond her understanding and bound into a marriage she cannot escape. She does not know who is an ally, and who is an enemy. But she does know she is drawn to the man whose dreams and heart seem made of ice.He is a mage broken, whose magic has been warped.The Blight ravages both Tamar and Sarkum, and their people, and armies, are starving. Violence and protests in Narfour have the city on the brink of rebellion. When Ihsan sees a chance to gain an ally with the only productive land left in Tamar for his cousin, the Sultana, he takes it. But nothing is as it seems when Behram Kadir is involved. Ihsan knows he should not trust the woman who has upended his life, even if she is the first warmth he has felt since fire stole everything from him. less