The Hurricane Wars, #2
A Monsoon Rising
by Thea Guanzon
Contents
Overview
A Monsoon Rising follows Talasyn, the Lightweaver heir of Nenavar and survivor of Sardovia, as her political marriage to Alaric Ossinast, the Night Emperor of Kesath, becomes the fragile center of a dangerous alliance. Their nations need each other to face the Voidfell, a catastrophic magical threat tied to the coming Moonless Dark, but each side enters the alliance with secrets, suspicion, and unfinished war behind them.
As Talasyn prepares for rule and searches for the truth about her lost mother and childhood, Alaric struggles under the influence of his ruthless father, Regent Gaheris, and the legacy of Kesathese conquest. The novel blends court politics, wartime loyalty, forbidden intimacy, and elemental magic, focusing on whether enemies shaped by violence can imagine a future beyond vengeance, empire, and survival.
Plot Summary ⚠️ Spoilers
Regent Gaheris reveals to Alaric Ossinast that Kesath’s peace with Nenavar is temporary. After Alaric and Talasyn stop the Void Sever, Gaheris intends to seize Nenavar, use the marriage treaty to trap Talasyn, and exploit a captured sariman to control or neutralize her Lightweave. Alaric is horrified but hides it, beginning a quiet resistance by keeping key sariman knowledge from Gaheris with Sevraim’s help. In Nenavar, Talasyn communes with the Light Sever and sees memories of being abandoned as an infant by her nursemaid Indusa, while Yanme Rapat warns her that her mother, Hanan Ivralis, opposed Urduja’s plans for succession.
Talasyn travels secretly between political roles. As Nenavar’s Lachis’ka and future Night Empress, she must appear loyal to Kesath, but she also meets Ideth Vela and Surakwel Mantes to coordinate Sardovian resistance plans. Her coronation at the Citadel exposes Kesathese hostility and Alaric’s attempt to limit her influence. During the ceremony, the supposedly lost Sardovian stormship Chiton attacks. Talasyn tries to reach the rebels, but Hiras, a Sardovian she once saved, calls her a traitor. Forced to defend herself, she kills former comrades and later kills another rebel to save Alaric. Gaheris destroys the diving Chiton with enormous Shadowgate power, proving how dangerous he remains.
The failed attack changes Talasyn’s position. Kesathese officers begin treating her as an ally because Sardovians attacked her, while she secretly plans to rescue the captured rebels. Alaric, summoned by Gaheris, is brutally tortured for weakness and for sparing Hiras at Talasyn’s request. Talasyn discovers his wounds and tends him, seeing that Alaric is not only an enemy ruler but also a son shaped by abuse. Their intimacy deepens, though Vela warns Talasyn that Alaric is still Gaheris’s creation and will be deadly if he learns of Sardovia’s deception.
A month later, a Voidfell flare devastates the Vasiyas village. Talasyn shelters the survivors at Iantas, publicly presenting unity with Alaric, who supports her decision. Sharing Iantas forces them into domestic proximity, while eclipse tests reveal that their combined Lightweave and Shadowgate shield works only between them. Amplifiers increase its range but cause dangerous aftereffects: Talasyn burns, Alaric freezes, and touch restores balance. Talasyn persuades Alaric to stop torturing captured rebels, marking a small break from Gaheris’s methods.
Their attraction becomes increasingly difficult to deny. Alaric’s fear of abandonment is triggered when Talasyn leaves for Belian after an intimate encounter, while Talasyn receives more Light Sever visions of Hanan’s love and sacrifice. When Alaric recklessly visits Chal’s Shadow Sever before a monsoon, Talasyn risks the storm to rescue him and is swept into a flooded cave. Alaric saves her, and while trapped together they argue, share warmth, and reveal wounds: Talasyn’s hope that Khaede may still be alive, Alaric’s pain over his mother Sancia leaving him, and their mutual confusion over desire and duty. After escaping, Alaric finally admits Talasyn is the only woman he wants, and they become lovers.
The bond grows beyond physical attraction, though both try to define it as temporary. Elagbi catches them together and warns Talasyn that war will force a choice. Alaric ignores Gaheris’s summons to stay near her, and their later conversations show deepening trust. The final eclipse test succeeds for a full hour, proving their shield may stop the Moonless Dark, but Ishan Vaikar warns that their magic may have been altered permanently. Talasyn resolves to save Alaric, even as her Sardovian obligations remain active. In Kesath, Alaric opposes Gaheris’s cruelty toward suspected rebel villages and rescues the sick sariman from further experimentation. Meanwhile, Vela secures new allies, and Talasyn makes Alaric’s survival a condition of her cooperation with the rebellion.
On the Moonless Dark, Alaric and Talasyn travel to Aktamasok to stop the Voidfell. Their barrier holds against the eruption, though both are wounded, until the Void Sever suddenly retreats. The true threat emerges: Bakun the World-Eater, the ancient first dragon, rises from the volcano. Talasyn realizes Bakun is driven not by simple malice but by grief for Iyaram, the first Zahiya-lachis, whose memory has been echoing through Talasyn’s visions. Rather than kill Bakun, Talasyn soothes the dragon and persuades it to return to sleep. Alaric follows her into danger and rescues her as Bakun descends back into Aktamasok. The world survives, but both rulers are permanently scarred by Voidfell and eclipse magic.
Afterward, Nenavar’s council debates Bakun, future Dead Seasons, and the need to preserve the Ivralis and Ossinast bloodlines through heirs. Talasyn and Alaric share tenderness and discuss a future, but their visions remain incompatible: Alaric still intends to crush the Sardovian resistance before reforming Kesath, while Talasyn secretly serves that same resistance. At the celebratory masquerade, Alaric’s jealousy erupts when Surakwel dances with Talasyn. Surakwel uses the dance to report that the Allfold survived and to deliver Vela’s order: Talasyn must uncover and disable the source powering Kesath’s void-heart warships before Sardovia attacks.
The masquerade turns into disaster. Sevraim and Ileis arrive to report that Sardovian rebels have broken prisoners out of the Citadel, aided by someone with inside knowledge of the prison layout. Before Alaric can leave for Kesath, Nenavarene assassins attack Iantas with weapons, explosives, and sariman-powered nullification that suppresses both Lightweave and Shadowgate. Talasyn and Alaric fight without magic until Elagbi destroys the amplifiers from an airship, restoring their powers. In the chaos, Oryal’s father, Wempuq, is killed. Talasyn follows the grieving Oryal, only to be betrayed: Oryal reveals knowledge about Hanan’s death, strikes Talasyn with Tempestroad lightning, and injects her with sariman blood and rain magic that erodes her Lightweave. Talasyn loses consciousness while clinging to the thought of Alaric, leaving the alliance, the rebellion, and her own magic in peril.
Characters
- TalasynTalasyn, also known as Alunsina Ivralis, is the Lightweaver heir of Nenavar and a Sardovian survivor whose marriage to Alaric makes her Night Empress. Her arc centers on divided loyalties, growing magical power, the search for her mother’s truth, and the conflict between saving Alaric and serving Sardovia.
- Alaric OssinastAlaric is the Night Emperor of Kesath, a Shadowgate wielder, and Gaheris’s abused son. His relationship with Talasyn moves from wary alliance to intimacy while he struggles between imperial duty, his father’s commands, and the possibility of a less brutal future.
- GaherisGaheris is Kesath’s Regent and Alaric’s father, whose frail body contrasts with immense Shadowgate power. He plans to conquer Nenavar after the Voidfell crisis, abuses Alaric to shape him into a weapon, and seeks to exploit the sariman against Talasyn.
- Queen Urduja SilimUrduja is Nenavar’s queen and Talasyn’s grandmother, a calculating ruler who treats the alliance with Kesath as both necessity and opportunity. She withholds information, manages court politics, and keeps Nenavar’s strategic interests ahead of Talasyn’s personal desires.
- Prince ElagbiElagbi is Talasyn’s father, a warm and protective presence who gives her the unconditional family support she lacked. He warns her about the dangers of loving Alaric but repeatedly chooses to stay beside her, even during the Moonless Dark.
- Ideth VelaIdeth Vela is a Sardovian leader secretly coordinating the remnant’s military and diplomatic strategy. She refuses reckless rescues, seeks allies for the coming war, and warns Talasyn that sympathy for Alaric could endanger Sardovia.
- Surakwel MantesSurakwel Mantes is a Nenavarene lord allied with Talasyn and the Sardovians. He distrusts Alaric, helps deliver Vela’s orders, pledges House Mantes’s forces, and serves as a political reminder of Talasyn’s obligations beyond her marriage.
- SevraimSevraim is Alaric’s irreverent Shadowforged friend and bodyguard. He keeps Alaric’s secrets, helps test and train magic, reports crises from Kesath, and often offsets tension with humor while remaining loyal.
- JieJie is Talasyn’s lady-in-waiting and companion, openly protective of her and skeptical of Kesath. She helps at Iantas, alerts Talasyn when Alaric goes to Chal, and provides emotional continuity amid court and war.
- Hanan IvralisHanan is Talasyn’s late mother, seen through Light Sever memories as loving, politically manipulated, and determined that her daughter choose her own future. Her choices and death shape Talasyn’s understanding of inheritance, sacrifice, and Nenavarene history.
- IndusaIndusa is the nursemaid entrusted with infant Alunsina. Talasyn’s visions show her taking the baby to the Continent and leaving her at an orphanage, making Indusa central to the mystery of Talasyn’s displacement.
- Yanme RapatYanme Rapat is a former Nenavarene general and Hanan’s confidant. He warns Talasyn that Hanan opposed Urduja’s succession plans, complicating Talasyn’s view of her inheritance.
- Ishan VaikarIshan Vaikar is the Ahimsan daya and Enchanter who designs the eclipse amplifier configurations. He explains the risks of Talasyn and Alaric’s combined magic and later offers theories about Bakun and future Dead Seasons.
- Nalam GaoNalam Gao is the kaptan of Talasyn’s Lachis-dalo. He guides Alaric through the Vasiyas disaster, protects Talasyn during the Iantas attack, and helps evacuate civilians under her orders.
- DariusDarius is a former Sardovian who betrayed the Allfold and now serves Kesath. His conversations with Talasyn threaten to expose Ideth Vela’s survival and remind her of the compromises and betrayals left by the war.
- HirasHiras is a young Sardovian rebel whom Talasyn once saved. He brands her a traitor during the Chiton attack, is captured alive, and becomes a symbol of the resistance Talasyn cannot openly protect.
- KhaedeKhaede is Talasyn’s absent Sardovian friend whose possible survival with her baby becomes a source of hope and anguish. News of her escape from Kesathese custody deepens Talasyn’s emotional stakes in the rebellion.
- SolSol is a dead Sardovian comrade remembered by Talasyn. His loss, especially through memories connected to Khaede, reinforces Talasyn’s grief over Sardovia’s destruction.
- Sancia OssinastSancia Ossinast is Alaric’s mother, remembered for begging him to flee Kesath with her before leaving without him. Her abandonment shapes Alaric’s fear of being left behind and affects his reactions to Talasyn.
- Commodore LisuCommodore Lisu is a Kesathese officer who questions Alaric’s policies and acts as a watcher for Gaheris. She brings Alaric news of Khaede’s escape and bargains for command of a future void ironclad.
- Commodore MathireCommodore Mathire is a Kesathese officer whose earlier violence against a dragon remains a point of tension. He also praises the union of shadow and light, making him part of the military establishment Talasyn must endure.
- General VimGeneral Vim is a Kesathese officer whom Talasyn manipulates into revealing the prisoners’ location. He later defends Talasyn before High Command by citing her killing of Sardovian insurgents.
- NordayeNordaye is Alaric’s timid aide. He carries messages, escorts Talasyn through the Citadel, and obeys her status when she insists on finding Alaric after Gaheris’s punishment.
- IleisIleis is one of the Shadowforged twins serving near Alaric. She initially insults Talasyn, fights during the Citadel attack, and later accompanies Sevraim with news of the Sardovian prison breakout.
- NiseneNisene is one of the Shadowforged twins and a sharp-edged Kesathese legionnaire. She fights during the Citadel crisis and later breaks Alaric’s training barrier, demonstrating the Shadowforged threat around him.
- Niamha LangsouneNiamha Langsoune is a Dominion noblewoman who advises Talasyn on courtly charm and political influence. She later helps manage masquerade tensions and notices more than Talasyn would like about her connections.
- BelrokBelrok is the royal tailor responsible for Alaric’s masquerade clothing. His clashes with Alaric highlight the cultural differences between Kesathese severity and Nenavarene court display.
- Bairung MatonoBairung Matono is a Dominion noblewoman involved in Talasyn’s social circle at Iantas. Her gossip and teasing help show Talasyn’s growing place within Nenavarene court life.
- Harjanti of SabtangHarjanti of Sabtang is a Dominion noblewoman whose affectionate political marriage is contrasted with Talasyn’s more dangerous arrangement. She appears in the courtly circle that teaches Talasyn how Nenavarene society reads desire and influence.
- OryalOryal is Rajan Wempuq’s daughter, first presented as part of Talasyn’s courtly circle. After her father is killed during the Iantas attack, she betrays Talasyn, revealing hidden knowledge about Hanan and using Tempestroad lightning and sariman blood against her.
- Rajan WempuqRajan Wempuq is Oryal’s father and a Silklands noble who interacts with Alaric and Elagbi at the masquerade. His murder during the assassination attempt becomes the opening for Oryal’s betrayal of Talasyn.
- Ralya MusalRalya Musal is a Dominion noblewoman who publicly praises Talasyn and Alaric after the Moonless Dark. Her pledge of support helps turn their survival into political capital for Talasyn.
- Kai GitabKai Gitab is a Dominion noble who questions practical threats in council and suggests killing Bakun. He later publicly confirms support for Talasyn, making his loyalty politically useful but not uncomplicated.
- Lueve RasmeyLueve Rasmey is Urduja’s right hand and a court figure whose gossip about royal favorites fuels Alaric’s jealousy. Her presence also marks the council’s unease around Bakun, succession, and court politics.
- Rajan BirungkilRajan Birungkil is Queen Urduja’s former favorite, mentioned and seen at the masquerade. His role introduces Alaric to Nenavarene customs around political companionship within marriage.
- BakunBakun is the World-Eater and ancient first dragon beneath Aktamasok. Its awakening reveals that the Voidfell is tied to grief and memory, and Talasyn’s decision to soothe rather than kill it saves the world from immediate catastrophe.
- IyaramIyaram is the first Zahiya-lachis, seen through Talasyn’s ancestral memory. Bakun’s grief for Iyaram explains the World-Eater’s rage and gives Talasyn the key to calming it.
- The dragonsThe dragons are Nenavar’s ancient sea leviathans and protectors. They accept Talasyn, escort her toward Aktamasok, and respond to Bakun’s awakening as part of Nenavar’s mythic and political identity.
- The sarimanThe sariman is a magical bird captured by Gaheris for experiments meant to affect Talasyn’s Lightweave. Alaric later rescues the sick creature, privately names it Guava, and its blood becomes tied to magic-nullifying dangers.
- PakwanPakwan, nicknamed Watermelon, is Talasyn’s messenger eagle. It carries key messages between Iantas and Belian, including the warning that sends Talasyn after Alaric during the monsoon.
- Ahimsan EnchantersThe Ahimsan Enchanters are the magical researchers who operate the amplifier configurations for the eclipse shield. Their work makes the plan against the Voidfell possible while exposing Talasyn and Alaric to unpredictable magical consequences.
- Nenavarene assassinsThe Nenavarene assassins attack the Iantas masquerade with ceramic explosives, void weapons, poisoned defenses, and sariman-powered nullification. Their assault turns the post-Moonless Dark celebration into a trap aimed largely at Alaric and exposes hidden threats within the court.
Themes
A Monsoon Rising is driven by the question of whether people shaped by war can choose something other than the roles war has assigned them. Talasyn and Alaric begin as symbols—Lightweaver and Shadowforged, Sardovian survivor and Night Emperor—but the chapters repeatedly strip those symbols down to wounded individuals struggling against inherited violence.
- Love as rebellion against empire: The central romance is not merely personal; it becomes politically dangerous. Talasyn is expected by Vela, Urduja, and the Sardovian cause to use Alaric, while Gaheris plans to control or destroy Talasyn through the sariman. Yet their intimacy grows through acts of care: Talasyn tending Alaric’s Shadowgate wounds, Alaric sparing Hiras because she asks, and both choosing each other’s survival during the Moonless Dark. Their bond challenges the logic of conquest, even as neither can fully escape it.
- The inheritance of trauma: Nearly every major character is haunted by the past. Talasyn’s visions of Hanan, Indusa, and Bakun reveal that history is not dead but alive in bodies, bloodlines, and magic. Alaric’s obedience to Gaheris stems from years of abuse, while Talasyn’s flinch before drunken Alaric exposes scars left by the orphanage. The book suggests that nations, like people, repeat pain until someone consciously interrupts the pattern.
- Power, control, and bodily autonomy: Gaheris’s sariman experiments, the nullification field at the masquerade, and Oryal’s injection of Talasyn all literalize the horror of having magic—and therefore selfhood—taken away. Against this, Talasyn’s breakthroughs with Lightweave come through memory, love, and chosen connection, not domination.
- Duty versus moral imagination: Both protagonists are loyal to causes that demand cruelty. Alaric wants to feed former Sardovian territories and reform Kesath, yet still imagines crushing the resistance. Talasyn wants peace but hides missions that will betray him. Their tragedy lies in seeing a better world while remaining entangled in the old one.
- Nature, myth, and grief: The monsoon, dragons, eclipses, and Bakun’s awakening enlarge the story beyond politics. Bakun’s Voidfell is revealed as lament, not simple evil, turning apocalypse into an expression of ancient mourning. The world itself remembers, grieves, and demands healing.
By the final attack, the fragile alliance of light and shadow is again under siege. The novel’s deepest tension is whether love can become a new political language—or whether history will weaponize it first.