The Quickening Omnibus by Fiona McIntosh (#1-3)

Fiona McIntosh is a fantasy author who lives in Australia. She was born in Brighton and between the ages of three and eight, travelled a lot to Africa due to her father's work. At the age of nineteen she travelled first to Paris and later to Australia, where she has lived ever since.

Genre: Fantasy

#1. Myrren's Gift:
When Wyl Thursk, General of the Morgravian Legion, is forced to watch the torture of Myrren, a young woman accused of witchcraft, it seems little enough comfort to speed her passing. But Myrren is grateful for even this small mercy and promises Wyl a gift. He thanks her but dismisses the notion - what could this poor, doomed girl give to him? It is only years later that Wyl, shorn of his friends and allies, betrayed by his king, and forced to make an impossible choice, remembers the dying words of the young woman about to burn for her crime of witchcraft. As his enemy's sword draws closer, Wyl finally understands the meaning of Myrren's gift, and he wonders how one act of kindness could have unleashed such evil...

#2. Blood and Memory:
To save two kingdoms from a despot's rule, one man must journey into the unknown, seeking answers to the strange and powerful secret that so plagues him. Wyl Thirsk, loyal soldier of Morgravia, has seen his best friend slain, his sister tortured, and his mentor sent to certain death, all at the hands of his sovereign, the cruel and manipulative King Celimus. Now Celimus, believing himself to be rid of the ""moral constraints"" of the Thirsk influence, has turned his greedy eye to expansion ... and Morgravia's neighboring kingdom, ruled by the spirited but inexperienced Queen Valentyna. As Celimus pressures Valentyna into a doomed political marriage, Wyl endeavors desperately to preserve both the honor of his country and the freedom of the woman he loves. But fate has other plans for him. Despite his friends and loved ones becoming increasingly tangled in the evil machinations of King Celimus, though war with the dread Northern Kingdom appears imminent and Valentyna is poised to succumb to Morgravia's oily rule, Wyl must leave behind all he knows and cares about and travel into the land from which none return, seeking out the bestower of Myrren's sinister gift.

#3. Bridge of Souls:
Wyl Thirsk, former general of the Morgravian army and bearer of the curse known as Myrren's gift, is running out of time. Marriage between his beloved Queen Valentyna and his sworn enemy, the despotic King Celimus, is imminent; yet, despite the impending nuptials, war looms between the two nations, while the threat from the Mountain Kingdom grows stronger. Trapped in a body not his own, with his friends and supporters scattered throughout the realm, Wyl is as desperate to prevent the wedding as he is to end Myrren's "gift" - a magic that will cease only when he assumes the throne of Morgravia. Clinging to an ominous suggestion from his young friend Fynch, an increasingly powerful mage, Wyl must walk his most dangerous path yet - straight into the brutal clutches of Celimus in a desperate attempt to save his nation, his love, and himself.