The Smoke Thieves

**Unforgiveable betrayals, devious motives, and forbidden love collide in the first installment of internationally bestselling author Sally Green''s epic new fantasy series, perfect for Game of Thrones fans. /b> In a land tinged with magic and a bustling trade in an illicit supernatural substance, destiny will intertwine the fates of five players: A visionary princess determined to forge her own path. An idealistic solider whose heart is at odds with his duty. A streetwise hunter tracking the most dangerous prey. A charming thief with a powerful hidden identity. A loyal servant on a quest to avenge his kingdom. Their lives intersect with a stolen bottle of demon smoke. As war approaches, they must navigate a tangled web of political intrigue, shifting alliances, and forbidden love in order to uncover the dangerous truth about the strangely powerful smoke that interwines their fates.

“Sally Green’s The Smoke Thieves *is full to overflowing with dark magic, marvelous mayhem, heart-stopping action, and delicious forbidden romance. I want more!”—**Morgan Rhodes, *New York Times bestselling author of *Falling Kingdoms

“Hugely ambitious…. A rewarding read.” —The Times

*"A YA Game of Thrones that pits power against love, conviction against convention."—*Booklist

• "A must-purchase."—*School Library Journal

*"The pieces that come together at the end are clearly only a part of a massive puzzle, teasing readers and ensuring a sequel." —*BCCB Reviews

*“Will hold readers rapt until the harrowing conclusion.” —*Publishers Weekly

• "Love, humor, politics, machinations, loyalty, violence, and magic swirl and shine in this fast-paced book that lovers of this genre will fall into and not want to climb out of." —*School Library Connection
• A Kids' Indie Next Selection

Auteur
Sally Green lives in Cheshire, England. She has had various jobs from her first paper-round to a career as an accountant, but in 2010 she started writing a novel and that changed her life. She still runs most days despite several attempts to give it up. Follow her on Twitter @Sa11eGreen.

Texte du rabat

An unlikely quartet of teens--a princess, a servant, a demon hunter, and a thief--fight to unify a kingdom whose very existence is threatened by a ruthless ruler in control of an all-powerful magical weapon in the first installment of Green's epic fantasy trilogy.

Échantillon de lecture
This excerpt is from an advance uncorrected copy proof Copyright © 2018 Sally Green

THE SMOKE THIEVES
by Sally Green

TASH
Northern Plateau, Pitoria

“Everything Ready?”

“No. This is a figment of your imagination and I’ve been sitting on my arse all day eating honey.” Tash was adjusting the rope so its knotted end was a hand’s breadth above the bottom of the pit.

“A bit lower,” Gravell said. “I’m not blind! You need to check it.”

Tash turned on Gravell, “I know what I need to do!”

Gravell always got serious and persnickety at this stage and it only now occurred to Tash that it was because he was scared. Tash was scared too, but it didn’t help to think that Gravell wasn’t far off shitting in his pants as well.

“Not nervous, are you?” she asked.

Gravell muttered, “Why should I be nervous? You’re the one it’ll catch first. By the time it’s done with you I’ll be long gone.”

It was true, of course. Tash was the bait. She lured the demon into the trap and Gravell finished it off.

Tash was thirteen and had been demon bait since Gravell bought her from her family four years ago. He’d turned up one sunny day, the hugest, hairiest man she’d ever seen, saying he’d heard that they had a girl who was a fast runner, and told her he’d give her five kopeks if she could run to the trees before the harpoon he threw hit the ground. Tash thought it must be a trick—no one would pay just to see her run, and five kopeks was a huge sum—but she did it anyway, mostly to show off that she could. She wasn’t sure what she’d do with the money—she’d never had more than a kopek before and she’d have to hide it before her brothers took it off her. But she needn’t have worried; she left with Gravell that afternoon. Gravell gave her father ten kroners for her, he told her later. “A bit pricey,” he teased. No wonder her father had been smiling when she’d left.

Gravell was her family now, which was to Tash’s mind a lot better than the previous one. Gravell didn’t beat her, she was rarely hungry, and while she was sometimes cold, that was the nature of the work. And from the first day with Gravell she had been given boots. Yes, compared to her previous life, this one with Gravell was one of luxury and plenty. The money from selling demon smoke was good, although demons were rare and dangerous. The whole process of killing demons and selling smoke was illegal, but the sheriff’s men didn’t bother them if they were discreet. Gravell and Tash usually managed to catch four or five demons a season, and the money lasted the year and when they were in towns they stayed at inns, slept in beds, had baths, and, best of all, Tash had boots. Two pairs now!

Tash loved her boots. Her ordinary everyday boots were of thick leather with sturdy soles. Those were good for walking and hiking, and didn’t rub or pinch. She had no blisters and the smell from them she considered to be a good smell, more leathery than the stale sweat that Gravell’s boots oozed. Tash’s second pair, the pair she was wearing now, Gravell bought for her when they were in Dornan a few months earlier. These were her running boots and they fitted perfectly. They had sharp metal spikes in the soles so she could grip hard and set off fast. Gravell had suggested them and come up with the design, and he’d even paid for them—two kroners, which was a lot for boots. As she put them on the first time he’d said, “Look after them and they’ll look after you.” Tash did look after them and she definitely, absolutely refused to be ungrateful, but what she wanted, what she coveted more than anything in the world, were the ankle boots she’d thought Gravell was going to give her when he told her he was treating her to something special. She’d seen the ankle boots in the window of the cobbler’s shop in Dornan and mentioned them a few times to him. They were the most beautiful, delicate, pale gray boots of suede, so soft and fine that they looked to be made from rabbit’s ears.

When Gravell showed her the spiked boots and told her how he’d come up with the idea for them, she made a good job, she thought, of looking delighted. Tash told herself not to be disappointed. It would all work out. The spiked boots would help in this hunt and with the money from the demon kill she’d be able to buy the gray suede boots herself.

And soon they’d have their first demon.

Gravell found this demon’s lair after only a week. He’d dug the pit, though these days Tash set up and checked the escape mechanism and, in fact, wouldn’t let Gravell near it.

Gravell had taught Tash to be careful, to double-check everything and she went through a test run now, walking back from the pit a hundred paces, then jogging through the trees, picking up speed where there was little snow on the ground and into the small clearing where the snow was deeper but where she’d trampled it down to compress it so that it had hardened to a crisp, going at full speed now, pumping her legs, leaning forward, her spikes…