Bitter Moon II: Triane's Son Reigning takes place immediately after the end of Bitter Moon I: Triane's Son Ascending. At the end of book one, Torrant Shadow's treasured school has been destroyed in a misguided assassination attempt by King Consort Rath, the man who ordered the death of Torrant's mother and foster family. Torrant, who had been planning to wed his moon-destined, Yarrow Moon, finds instead that he can no longer bear not knowing when Rath's poison will next threaten her life or the life of her kin, the family that took them in as they fled from Rath as children.
Bitter Moon II finds Torrant riding into Clough with his best friend (and one-time lover), Aylan, at his side. Torrant plans to assume the identity of Yarri's older brother, Ellyot Moon and take over Ellyot's position as a regent of Clough. He hopes to overthrow Rath bloodlessly, through the political arena, and therefore to kill all of Rath's genocidal policies as well. What he doesn't count on is the backlash of Rath's guardsmen on the Goddess people of Clough, and Torrant realizes he must assume more than one identity as he argues for human rights in the day and protects the Goddess folk's very right to exist by night. Aylan, who failed once to do what Torrant is doing now, finds himself engaged in a full time struggle to save Torrant as Torrant tries to save the world.
After a spectacular and heart-ripping failure, the perilous situation in Clough is even further complicated when Yarri realizes the full extent of Torrant's danger. Never one to sit back and let events unfold without her, Yarri ventures into Clough, supported by the friends and family Torrant left behind to protect. Together with her cousins they venture into the heart of enemy territory to protect the family member they call 'the heart of their Joy'.
Filled with adventure, danger, love and heartbreak, Bitter Moon II: Triane's Son Reigning takes us on a journey with Torrant Shadow who learns the complexities of love and the evils of power firsthand, as well as the hardest truth of all: One man alone can't save the world, and love is only salvation when it comes with blood and sacrifice.
