The Pawn and The Puppet series

The Emerald Lake Asylum is not a place most desire to go. Nineteen-year-old Skylenna, however, made a promise that she must keep. Once hired, she has only one purpose—prove to the council that barbaric treatments, such as waterboarding, scalding baths, and beatings, are no longer the answer. But that all takes pause when she meets the source of terror in the asylum. A patient with a split personality—on one side, he’s the bloodthirsty genius Dessin. On the other, a hidden persona that is buried deep in his subconscious.

Skylenna has left the Chandelier City, the Emerald Lake Asylum, and the twisted societal restraints of women to run away with the patient everyone fears: Dessin.

Skylenna's world stops revolving around Dessin as she learns of a new secret he's been hiding. Plagued with betrayal, anger, and paralyzing waves of confusion, Skylenna must put her feelings aside and focus on saving DaiSzek from the Vexamen Breed. But after tragedy strikes, she embarks on a journey alone to learn the dark, epic secrets of her past. The lost memories of her childhood. The missing pieces of Dessin's grand plan. Yet, what if this sinister truth is enough to tip her over the edge?

Meet Kaspias Valdawell, Kane's twin brother, raised by the demented leaders of Vexemen to build the perfect commander. And the ultimate warden for his special inmates. Throughout their stay, Dessin and Skylenna fight to protect their family, understand Skylenna's new gifts in battle, and resist the menacing ways of their new captivity, slowly breaking their minds, bodies, and souls. Will they have time to make a grand escape?