Synopsis: The Arch of Lament: Book One of the Truthfinder Trilogy

[Book 1 of 3]
Archaeologist Sirala Bakhti discovers an ancient, warded scroll in a sea-cliff ruin carved by those fleeing a terrible plague called the Scourge. Her arrogant young assistant, Ravender, manages to hack open the ward, though he has no magical schooling.

When Sirala presents the scroll's shocking religious secrets to Zanurah Najakha at the Celestial Hub, the great temple to the eight gods, the high priestess demands the scroll be destroyed, and orders Sirala and her team arrested. They receive mysterious aid in escaping, and Sirala flees for her life before the priestess' wrath.

With her loyal team, she seeks further answers from a distant, lost sanctuary the ancient scroll mentioned, learning that her people's origin may be from a mysterious place called the Arch of Lament, rather than what the Hub has always taught. There, she is captured by Taja Kumenezad, a Finder who's part ninja, part native scout, and part brawler.

Between her own clan's beliefs and her outrage at being used and betrayed by the high priestess, Taja chooses to aid Sirala in seeking the Arch of Lament. But their way is far from smooth. She must honor-duel a fellow Finder--Zardus, her strongest rival--for the right to protect Sirala rather than kill her. No sooner is that accomplished than one of their own betrays them to the ruling Shaj's elite guards, whose commander broke off his engagement with Sirala thirteen years ago, when he learned she was barren: a curse in a society that reveres the sacred feminine.

Luck--or possibly more--is on their side when Zardus returns to break them out of custody. After a final, horrific battle of magic, swords and arrows among the High Priestess Zanurah, Taja and Ravender, the mysterious rebel forces and the Shaj's elite soldiers, Sirala manages to locate the lost Arch and learns its true purpose, along with a shattering secret that could destroy her people’s faith forever.