The Dreaming Land III: The Sacrifice by E.P. Clark

Dreams are not enough. Deeds are needed.

Valya has chased the slave traders stealing her people's children all the way to the very edge of Zem'. She is preparing to leave her motherland behind and descend into the foreign plains beyond the mountains in order to rescue as many enslaved children as she can--until a sudden vision changes everything.

Instead of heading East, she finds herself racing West, back to Krasnograd, where the Empress is in mortal danger. But in order to save the Empress, Valya must keep from destroying herself. With her native recklessness and her newfound magic only very partially under her control, though, she may have finally come across a mission beyond even her considerable strength.

The Dreaming Land III: The Sacrifice is the final book in The Dreaming Land mini-series, and the conclusion to the award-winning Zemnian Series, set in the unique matrilineal world of Zem'. Inspired by Russian history, fairy tales, and literature, this epic series is a subversive examination of gender, sexuality, and reality in the vein of The Mists of Avalon or the Kushiel's Legacy series.

With discussion questions at the end.