Mai Corland’s The Broken Blades saga is set to come to a close with Three Shattered Souls, and ScreenRant has a first look at the cover as well as an excerpt from the novel. Corland shot to the top of The New York Times Best Seller list when her first novel in the series, Five Broken Blades, was released in 2024. The novel was also an Amazon Best book of 2024, leading into the impressive success of Four Ruined Realms, the sequel that dropped in January 2025.

ScreenRant is happy to present the cover for Mai Corland’s romantic fantasy novel Three Shattered Souls, which will be published by Red Tower Books. Not only does the cover feature evocative artwork, it boasts sprayed edges that create a beautiful image on the pages itself when the book is closed. Take a look below, and read on to see an excerpt from chapter 2 of the highly anticipated novel.

Read An Excerpt From Three Shattered Souls

Chapter Two

City of Berm, Gaya

Sora

I cover my head with a pillow. Royo might have the heaviest feet in the four realms. He’s been pacing, creaking the floorboards in the hall since a little after dawn. Meanwhile, I’ve been tossing on my bed in this nice, seaside inn as the ocean breeze flows through the windows, trying to get back to sleep.

We’re temporarily safe, and I know I should rest while I can, but my mind is ill at ease. I can’t stop thinking about Daysum, Tiyung, and what will become of us all.

It seems foolish now, but before Euyn died, it had started to feel like the five of us could survive anything together. We’d lived through our assassination attempt failing in the arena, the Marnan attack, and an avalanche—just to name a few close calls. But now it’s clear that we’re not invincible—even Aeri, who can sink ships at will. Royo must be worried about her, too.

Not that he’ll it it.

I turn, rearrange my long hair on the feather pillow, and try to fall back to sleep. Moments later, I give up. I’m undeniably awake. I slip out of bed, throw on my heavy dress and boots, and open the door.

Royo is right outside it. He jumps backward with his hand reaching for a blade.

“Good morning,” I say.

“Oh. Sora.” He’s breathing hard, and with some effort, he lowers his broad shoulders. “Hi.”

“Were you about to knock?” I point to the wooden door.

“Yeah, no, I was… No. I just went… I wanted to… No.” He nods, then shakes his head.

I asked the wrong question.

“Do you want to come in?” I gesture to the room.

“Is she… No, I’m fine out here.” He shoves his hands in his pockets. He has on slacks and a cotton short that’s straining to contain his chest. Inside that shirt, there’s a broken heart spilling out.

He peers around me to Aeri, who is still asleep on the other bed. Last night, we decided it was best for someone to keep an eye on her, and I volunteered. It was nice to have the company. I used to sleep in the same room as my brothers and Daysum, and then there were nineteen other girls in the bedroom hall in poison school—at least at the beginning. After that, Hana used to sleep by my side every night until she died. It’s easier to sleep when someone you love is near.

“I was just going to stretch my legs,” I lie. “Want to me?”

“Yeah…yes,” Royo says.

I smile and lock the door behind me. He watches like a hawk, as if I can mess up turning a key. He’s still protective, although he’d deny it. Broken hearts grow thorns as they stitch themselves back together. His has twice the armoring now.

We take the stairs down to the lobby. It’s a smaller traveler’s inn of two floors and twenty rooms, but they offered a good dinner.

Royo and I walk up to the desk, and the girl behind it smiles and says good morning. They speak Yusanian here.

I’m about to respond when the innkeeper steps behind the desk. I’m not sure how old he is, maybe forty, but he’s balding with a thin black mustache and hungry brown eyes.

“Going out for the day, miss?” he asks.

“Yes,” I say. “Is there a dress house nearby?”

The girl gives me directions while the innkeeper continues to stare at me. A chill runs down my spine in the warm lobby. Something about him makes me want to flee. Luckily, though, the interaction is short-lived, as there is a shop just a few blocks away.

“We’re going to a dress shop?” Royo asks, opening the door for us to leave.

“You don’t have to come, but I’m out of place in this.” I gesture to my clothes. I lost the fur cape in battle, and I left the chest armor in my room, but I’m wearing a cold-weather gown and it’s tropical in Gaya. The last thing we want is to stand out any more than we already do.

I look back over my shoulder as we leave and see that the innkeeper is still staring at me. A creeping suspicion takes hold of me, but I shake it off. Maybe I just don’t like the feeling of being prey again. It was different in Khitan, where women had equal rights, but we’re back in a Yusanian territory now.

As we step outside, the salty sea air reminds me of my home in Gain. For better or worse, it’s a familiar feeling. Yet this island is different from anywhere I’ve been. Mikail said Berm is the second largest city in Gaya, but it’s much smaller than Gain or even Use. If I had to guess, fewer than ten thousand people live here. The houses are whitewashed with patches of seagrass in front and high palm-thatched roofs. Black timber stilts protect them from a surging sea.

I limp slightly as I walk down the paved, sandy road. My pinkie toe remains blackened from when I froze on the way to Lake Cerome, but at least I can’t feel it. Three of my other toes are red and still painful to walk on.

“Are your feet okay?” Royo stares down at my boots and then at me.

“I’ll be all right,” I say. “How are you?”

“Fine.”

I side-eye him. We are many things, but none of us is fine.

He sighs. “Angry, hurt, sad, lonely, feeling like the king of fools—pick any one of those, I guess.”

He kicks a rock, and it skitters down the street.

I nod. I understand what he means, and yet I don’t know how he feels. I haven’t had someone I love lie to me the way Aeri deceived him. But I did keep secrets from someone I love. Daysum would claim she could handle knowing everything when I knew she, in fact, could not.

“Some truths are held back out of love,” I say.

He shakes his head. “You can’t keep secrets from someone if you love them.”

I stare into the distance. “You can if you think the truth will needlessly hurt them.”

Royo opens his mouth and then closes it as we continue down the street.

Aeri and I spoke as we lay in our beds last night. We talked about how she didn’t tell him or anyone else about having the amulet. Honestly, I wouldn’t have told anyone, either. The relic is quite literally life and death. She used it to save Mikail in Oosant, Royo on the Sol, and to get me away from Seok in Khitan. Then with the ring, she turned two warship hulls to solid gold right before my eyes. She even may have drowned two kings who fancied themselves gods. Of course she’d keep the Sands of Time a secret. Most people would slaughter her to take a relic that powerful—including her own father. And if Royo had known, it would have put him in harm’s way.

There are weights you bear alone because the truth will crush someone you love.

But not all secrets are kept out of caring. Euyn didn’t tell me about my parents—that they never sold me and Daysum, or that he hunted my father for sport. He also never told anyone that he didn’t believe he was Baejkin. The truth can also be withheld out of selfishness or self-protection. I just don’t believe that was the case with Aeri. Not with Royo, anyhow.

“She thought you’d be in danger if you knew the truth,” I say. “Her father and many others would’ve tortured you until you broke. She kept you in the dark to keep you safe.”

“Yeah, because we’re nice and safe now,” he deadpans.

I laugh in spite of the situation. We certainly aren’t. No one is until we figure out how to end this. Aeri said it best on the steps of the palace in Khitan: the ones we hate die first.

But how?

We have powerful relics, but we are just four people, six with Fallador and Gambria—if we can trust them. We were lucky to survive facing the empires one time. I doubt we’ll survive again without an army on our side. How do we win? How does Seok die and Daysum live? How do we murder and save at the same time?

Royo and I keep walking in the humid air. It’s not raining here, but Mikail mentioned that Gaya is so far south that the monsoons swing above it, the same way the rains don’t reach west to Fallow.

Here, the tropical sun shines all year. Palm and date trees shoot up into the sky, their shade a welcome relief from this heat. Sweat glistens on Royo’s brow and wets his shirt. Although we a forge, a bread house, a stable, and a tannery, I don’t see any dress houses.

I start to think we missed a turn as we come to the end of a street. We were so busy scanning the storefronts that we’re nearly at the base of a fortress before I notice it. Royo stops short as well. He blinks and wipes his brow with the back of his hand.

The garrison is built up on a green hill, and the soldiers patrolling it are the Yusanian king’s guard. Their tan uniforms with black leather armor are unmistakable. The red flag with the black snake flies from the turrets, waving in the ocean breeze.

Royo looks at me out of the corner of his eye and then crosses the street, away from the fort. He motions with his chin for me to follow because the last thing we need is to be detained by the king’s guard. I doubt word has spread to look for us yet, but there’s no need to draw attention to the fact we’re here.

I’m about to cross the street when something draws my eye. Two soldiers are talking to a shorter woman. She laughs, and I stop in my tracks.

I know that laugh. I heard it in a sleigh on the way to Loptra in Khitan.

Gambria is talking to of the king’s guard.

I freeze. This isn’t right. I don’t know where Mikail and Fallador are, but we left Aeri alone at the inn. Gambria knows that she has two relics, and Yusan would pay good money for that information. Mikail says that Gambria is loyal, but is she? Enough gold can tempt even the strongest hearts.

Dread pools in my stomach, and my pulse pounds. We need to get back to the inn.

I cross over to Royo and meet his eyes. His breathing has sped up, and his muscles are tensed. We walk quickly to the end of the block, his jaw locked and spine rigid. As soon as we round the corner, we start running.

Excerpted from Three Shattered Souls by Mai Corland. Reprinted with permission from Red Tower Books, an imprint of Entangled Publishing. All rights reserved.

What Comes After Three Shattered Souls?

The books in Mai Corland’s The Broken Blades series will all be released in the span of just over a year, which is incredibly fast by many standards (on the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s George R. R. Martin). While this makes for a satisfying reading experience, it also means that The Broken Blades series will have wrapped up relatively quickly. Thankfully, Corland has teased what’s next for that story universe, and for her work in general.

In a Q&A with romantasy series, saying, “Can I tell you a secret? There will be a spin-off to The Broken Blades trilogy.” Those who are sad to leave the world Corland created behind can be reassured that they will have another chance to explore the kingdom of Yusan.

The fantasy author clearly has no intention of resting on her laurels, as she teased even more to come in the same Q&A. In addition to mentioning The Broken Blades spinoff, Corland said, “I’m also in the beginning stages of working on a new, spicy duology that we have planned for 2026.” Given how quickly Corland got The Broken Blades trilogy out, readers can be encouraged that there is much more of the author’s work to come.

Three Shattered Souls will go on sale July 15.