wifewidow | in summary |

Biye, Queen of the Heathlands. Married to Jarle, the King. She has born him his heir, Hallan, now three decenniums old. Meanwhile, the King has made the beautiful, young Ira his Second Wife and is looking for an opportunity to make her Queen instead of Biye. Biye sees this as a declaration of war and plots against him along with her son, who is a mindless pawn in her games. In prophetic dreams, Biye has seen that unless Hallan takes the throne, once Jarle is gone, the heaths will burn around them, destroying everything. From a slave girl given to her by Jarle as an empty display of love, Paseen, she learns of the Western religion of the Eight-State Goddesses and accepts this faith, hoping her new deities will help her achieve victory.