Kingdom of Embers and Ruin by N.E. Valla

A continent divided. Rival kingdoms on the brink of war. Fates intertwined. A love that will spark the flame of rebellion.

Maude has been running for most of her adult life; from her past and her future.
She is an isolated pit fighter who would rather hit first and ask questions later with no other goal than to stay alive in the slums of Logi, the capital city of the Kingdom of Flame. Life had been anything but simple for Maude but it was still hers. But when a charming stranger hops into the fighting pit with her and forces her to face the growing unrest in Logi, Maude can feel the fates swirling around her once more.

Herrick is a warrior from the Kingdom of Rivers who is on a mission to help the oppressed, low born citizens of Ahland.
A strict believer in the fate that the gods laid out for him, Herrick follows his gut to Logi when dreams of Valkyries and flames plague him. He knows the brutally stubborn woman he finds in the illegal fighting pits is his fate when he aggravates her enough for her to lose her slippery grip on control, revealing her secret. She would be his salvation in this civil war against King Helvig of Logi… and his damnation.

When the opportunity arrives for Herrick to persuade Maude to help him search for a rumored weapon that can take down the crooked king on the Throne of Wind and Flames, he quickly discovers that she is as frustrating as she is alluring to the warrior. Her past is a mystery that Herrick wants to unravel but Maude doesn’t give up bits of herself without a fight, even if she feels herself losing that fight every moment she spends in the aggravating warrior’s presence.

Tempers flare and desires burn in this enemies to lovers Viking inspired fantasy imbued with elemental magic and civil unrest. Follow Maude and Herrick as they reluctantly work together to free Ahland from crooked rulers and restrictions that have the gods restless enough to begin pulling on the strings of fate, altering their lives as they know it.