Search
Log in
  • Home

  • Categories

  • Audiobooks

  • E-books

  • Magazines

  • For kids

  • Top lists

  • Help

  • Download app

  • Use campaign code

  • Redeem gift card

  • Try free now
  • Log in
  • Language

    🇧🇪 Belgique

    • FR
    • EN

    🇩🇰 Danmark

    • DK
    • EN

    🇩🇪 Deutschland

    • DE
    • EN

    🇪🇸 España

    • ES
    • EN

    🇫🇷 France

    • FR
    • EN

    🇳🇱 Nederland

    • NL
    • EN

    🇳🇴 Norge

    • NO
    • EN

    🇦🇹 Österreich

    • AT
    • EN

    🇨🇭 Schweiz

    • DE
    • EN

    🇫🇮 Suomi

    • FI
    • EN

    🇸🇪 Sverige

    • SE
    • EN
  1. Books
  2. Fiction
  3. Contemporary fiction

Read and listen for free for 30 days!

Cancel anytime

Try free now
4.2(15)
Queens of Renthia

The Reluctant Queen : Book Two of The Queens of Renthia

Filled with political intrigue, violent magic, and malevolent spirits, the mesmerizing second book in Sarah Beth Durst’s Queens of Renthia epic fantasy trilogy.

Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow . . .

And those spirits want to kill you.

It’s the first lesson that every Renthian learns.

Not long ago, Daleina used her strength and skill to survive those spirits and assume the royal throne. Since then, the new queen has kept the peace and protected the humans of her land. But now for all her power, she is hiding a terrible secret: she is dying. And if she leaves the world before a new heir is ready, the spirits that inhabit her beloved realm will run wild, destroying her cities and slaughtering her people.

Naelin is one such person, and she couldn’t be further removed from the Queen—and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Her world is her two children, her husband, and the remote village tucked deep in the forest that is her home, and that’s all she needs. But when Ven, the Queens champion, passes through the village, Naelin’s ambitious husband proudly tells him of his wife’s ability to control spirits—magic that Naelin fervently denies. She knows that if the truth of her abilities is known, it will bring only death and separation from those she loves.

But Ven has a single task: to find the best possible candidate to protect the people of Aratay. He did it once when he discovered Daleina, and he’s certain he’s done it again. Yet for all his appeals to duty, Naelin is a mother, and she knows her duty is to her children first and foremost. Only as the Queen’s power begins to wane and the spirits become emboldened—even as ominous rumors trickle down from the north—does she realize that the best way to keep her son and daughter safe is to risk everything.

Sarah Beth Durst established a place of dark wonder in The Queen of Blood, and now the stakes are even higher as the threat to the Queen and her people grows both from within and beyond the borders of Aratay in this riveting second novel of the Queens of Renthia series.


Author:

  • Sarah Beth Durst

Narrator:

  • Khristine Hvam

Series:

  • Volume 2 in Queens of Renthia

Format:

  • Audiobook

Duration:

  • 13 h 48 min

Language:

English

Categories:

  • Fiction
  • Contemporary fiction
  • Fantasy
  • Epic fantasy
  • Fantasy
  • Dark fantasy

More by Sarah Beth Durst

Skip the list
  1. The Enchanted Greenhouse : A cosy, cottagecore fantasy full of love, joy and magic

    Sarah Beth Durst

    audiobook
  2. The Spellshop : The New York Times bestselling, heartwarming and cosy fantasy about first loves and unlikely friendships

    Sarah Beth Durst

    audiobook
  3. Spy Ring

    Sarah Beth Durst

    audiobook
  4. The Lake House

    Sarah Beth Durst

    audiobook
  5. The Shelterlings

    Sarah Beth Durst

    audiobook
  6. Even and Odd

    Sarah Beth Durst

    audiobook
  7. The Bone Maker : A Novel

    Sarah Beth Durst

    audiobook
  8. Catalyst

    Sarah Beth Durst

    audiobook
  9. Race the Sands : A Novel

    Sarah Beth Durst

    audiobook
  10. Spark

    Sarah Beth Durst

    audiobook
  11. The Deepest Blue : Tales of Renthia

    Sarah Beth Durst

    audiobook
  12. The Queen of Sorrow : Book Three of The Queens of Renthia

    Sarah Beth Durst

    audiobook

  • 23 books

    Sarah Beth Durst

    Sarah Beth Durst is the author of young adult novels Conjured, Vessel, Drink Slay Love, Enchanted Ivy, and Ice, as well as middle grade novels Into the Wild and Out of the Wild. She has been a finalist for SFWA's Andre Norton Award three times, for Vessel, Ice, and Into the Wild. Sarah lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband and children. The Lost, The Missing, and The Found are Sarah's first novels for adults. Visit her at sarahbethdurst.com.

    Read more

Help and contact


About us

  • Our story
  • Career
  • Press
  • Accessibility
  • Nextory One
  • Partner with us
  • Investor relations
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Explore

  • Categories
  • Audiobooks
  • E-books
  • Magazines
  • For kids
  • Top lists

Popular categories

  • Crime
  • Biographies and reportage
  • Fiction
  • Feel-good and romance
  • Personal development
  • Children's books
  • True stories
  • Sleep and relaxation

Nextory

Copyright © 2025 Nextory AB

Privacy Policy · Terms ·
Excellent4.3 out of 5