The Tribute King by Brandon Hill

SPSFC 2023

For the desert tribes, the only abundant source of water aside from the holdings of their mortal enemies in the north, is the subterranean Gray Lands, inhabited by the half-serpent Naga, to whom the tribes pay annual tribute for use of the precious resource. But every two centuries, the Right of Flesh is the provision of human mates for the Naga. The Law of Tribute is sacrosanct, and those who make the trip to the Gray Lands are never seen again. Special exception has been made for the spoiled Prince Voran of Fire Mountain. Prone to boorish recklessness and arrogance, a singular farce too far runs him afoul of his father, who exiles the foolish Prince from his opulent desert Citadel to the water-rich Gray Lands as part of the Flesh Tribute. Rather than a life sentence, his father brokers a deal with the Naga High King to a tenure of three years in that sunless kingdom as the husband of Salgani, the blind Naga High Princess. Trapped in a detestable situation, Voran is faced with the consequences of his wasted life, and the decisions that come with it. Will he hold on to his immaturity, or become the truly noble prince that he was meant to be, and find love with the shrewd princess, in time to save his world from a sleeping threat that his enemies, in their hatred, would use to destroy everything?