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Synopsis:
Lady Zarya of Balhae never thought she would be chosen for a deadly task – but now The Blood Ritual demands a sacrifice.
With her brother’s disappearance looming over her, Zarya throws herself into representing her father’s position as Prime Fae Minister. As the Spring Equinox looms, she is given the opportunity to prove her worth to both the Queen and the rest of the Kingdom of Balhae’s royal court: complete the long-forgotten Blood Ritual. Tasked with crossing into the mortal realm to retrieve a chosen sacrifice that will ensure a bountiful harvest for her kingdom, she accepts—and its quickly revealed she will be hunting a human.
Driven by both duty and ambition, Zarya enters the realm of strange customs, fragile lives, unexpected kingdoms and harsh cruelties. Although, having crossed the border and mingled among humans, she finds her loyalties tangled. As she fights to navigate both the Terra and the emotions rising with each day she spends with the irritatingly handsome mortal, her immortality offers no sympathy. When the ritual demands blood, she is forced to confront what it truly means to wield courage—and what she is willing to sacrifice to keep it.
A dark fae fantasy of blood, romance, vulnerability, and the cost of ambition, Sacrifice explores the grey space between honour and cruelty, and what it means to carve your own path.
WARNING: This story contains scenes of Graphic Violence, Prejudice, Scars, Panic Attacks, Alcoholism, and Death. Depictions of speech impairment, trauma-related mutism, and magical recovery.
ISBN: 978-1-0695606-0-5
Author Avianna Bishop
Avianna Bishop is a Canadian-born fantasy author. She graduated from Vancouver Film School in 2021 in 3D Animation and Visual Effects. Her debut fantasy novel, Sacrifice — is a dark, emotionally charged story filled with morally grey choices and unforgiving truths. Avianna believes in balancing the scales of storytelling by giving a voice to complex female leads traditionally reserved for male heroes. Residing on Vancouver Island, Avianna is passionate about flipping the script and encouraging women to forge their own path.
When she’s not writing, Avianna practices visual art, event planning, and is heavily involved with her local community.
Editor Paige Vandop
Paige is a fourth-year Creative Writing student at VIU. She has self-published a young adult science fiction novel, The Masked Rebellion, with a trilogy in the works. Her short story “Body Double” was long-listed in the Island Short Fiction Review in 2024. Two of her short stories, “Blue Prints” and "Shifting Gears,” have been published in The Navigator. She was the Managing Editor for Portal 2025 and joined The Navigator as Business Manager in 2025. An academic paper she edited was awarded the Thomas Clark Silver Medal at the Global Undergraduate Awards.Sacrifice by Avianna Bishop will be the first book she has published. She works as a Freelance Editor under her own business, Anomaly Consulting.
