A Betrayal in Winter — Daniel Abraham

City on the Edge of Chaos

A son of the ruling family of the city-state of Machi, Otah was sent from his home to be raised away from the political intrigue into which he was born. Years later, he has witnessed and been part of world-changing events, yet he has never returned to his childhood home. Now his father, the reigning Khai, is dying, and Otah's eldest brother, Biitrah, has been assassinated. Otah realizes that he must go home, for reasons not even he understands.

Tradition dictates that the sons of a dying Khai fall upon each other until only one remains to rule. But something even worse is occurring in Machi. Galt, an expansive empire, has allied with someone in Machi to bring down the ruling house. Otah himself is caught and accused, the long-missing brother with an all-too-obvious motive for murder.
Daniel Abraham has created a masterful drama filled with a unique magic, a suspenseful thriller of betrayal, Machiavellian politics, and behind it all the machinations of the ambitious, bloodthirsty Gaits and their conflicted, fallible coconspirators.