The Serpent and the Wings of Night

The Serpent and the Wings of Night is the first Crowns of Nyaxia novel by Carissa Broadbent, self-published in 2022 and later reissued in print. It is set in a kingdom ruled by vampires, in which Oraya, a human, has been raised as the adopted daughter of the Nightborn king Vincent, in a world designed to kill her.

Oraya has grown up in a court where her heartbeat is a provocation and where the only route out of being prey is the Kejari, a tournament held in the name of Nyaxia, the goddess of death. The prize is a favour from a god, the competitors are the worst fighters each vampire house can send, and only one of them leaves. The three houses of the kingdom each sponsor entrants, so the field is a cross-section of the ruling families as much as a list of its best fighters.

Her one available ally is Raihn, which is a problem in itself: he is a dangerous fighter, he is a direct threat to her father's throne, and he is the strongest rival in the field. Both of them are playing for a prize that neither can afford to lose, and the rules of the contest leave very little room for trust. Broadbent builds the book out of the tournament's structure, the alliances that last exactly as long as the rules require, and the politics of bloodlines underneath it all.

The houses, their rulers and the goddess who holds them together are the furniture the rest of the series uses. Nyaxia created the vampires, and the goddess who made them takes an interest in whoever wins her contest, which makes the Kejari a chance to bargain directly with a deity. Crowns of Nyaxia is built as a set of linked duologies; this volume and its sequel tell one complete story, with Oraya at the centre of both.