Abigail Ashhurst was born to inherit a frozen empire. Unfortunately, she was also born with a conscience and a genuine talent for accounting, two qualities her ruthless dreadlord mother never forgave. After a family tragedy left the throne of the Arcane Tundra drenched in ash and expectation, Abigail fled south. Now she lives in the blazing desert of the Timeless Sands, with a mountain of gambling debts and a deeply unhelpful frost sylph named Kovon living under her sink.

Those debts buy her an unusual kind of servitude. Indentured to Dreadlord Kyfaz, Abigail has one job: refill the dangerously empty treasury of Aarkand before the annual state tribute comes due. Simple on paper. In practice, it means squeezing coin out of squabbling dreadsworn houses, arguing with ministers who treat a balanced budget as a personal insult, and keeping powerful jinn aristocrats from sabotaging each other long enough to actually pay their taxes.

Then the bodies start turning up. Demons are found butchered across the desert and its cities, carved with ancient ritual symbols that nobody at court will discuss out loud. Whispers of rebellion drift through Aarkand's gilded halls, and Kyfaz is preparing for a mysterious invasion that could drain every coin Abigail has scraped together. Someone is moving against the state from the shadows, and the trail runs straight through the ledgers. In a kingdom of jinn, demons, and murderous nobles, Abigail's greatest weapon might just be knowing exactly where the money went.

The Dreadlord's Accountant is political fantasy with a sharp wit and a dry sense of humor: court intrigue, collapsing finances, and a heroine whose spreadsheets are far more dangerous than any sword. Piers Furney builds a vivid world of frost and sand, spirits and dreadlords, and fills it with schemers who are equal parts terrifying and absurd. It is a story for readers who love clever protagonists, tangled conspiracies, and the quiet thrill of following the money, because in the Timeless Sands, debt is rarely paid in gold.

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