Warrior Princess Assassin is an elevated romantic-fantasy novel by Brigid Kemmerer, published by HarperCollins and their romance branch, Avon Books. It is the first in the Braided Fate trilogy and Kemmerer’s adult book debut, with the second novel scheduled for release in the fall of 2026.
Warrior Princess Assassin focuses on the three titular characters — warrior King Maddox “Ky” Kyronan (who possesses fire magic), Princess Marjoriana (Jory), and assassin Asher, a childhood friend of Jory’s who was raised in the court but then banished for misplaced treason as a teenager, which eventually led to him joining the Hunter’s Guild and becoming an assassin.
The story begins with Ky of Incendar riding in to meet Jory of Astranza to finalize a marriage drafted by her brother, in hopes of the nations exchanging needed resources to fight the neighboring and terrifying nation of Draegonis. However, Asher gets an anonymous assignment from his guild to kill both Jory and Ky, with the knowledge that if he does not finish the order, the Guild will continue to send assassins until the job is done, so he kidnaps the king and takes him and Jory away from the castle. Thus begins the adult fantasy romance of adventure, magic, political intrigue, and lust.
This entry is going to focus on two characters in particular: Ky and Asher.
Both are incredibly well-developed characters beyond their bisexuality. Ky is an excellent leader, smart, strategic, clever, often selfless, kind, loyal, and compassionate. But he is not a faultless man; he can be ruthless in battle, and due to a lifetime spent on the battlefield, his PTSD can often get him into fight-or-flight mode, assuming everyone approaching him is going to attack him. This sometimes leads to a lack of situational awareness or acting rashly if someone is not there to see his blind spots.
In kind, Asher is also a nuanced character. In his profession, he is agile, incredibly fast and dexterous, with a good eye on how to escape any situation. He is smart, wryly sarcastic, observant, and both well-versed in political intrigue due to his childhood in the court of Astranza as well as street-smart due to his time in exile. However, due to his banishment and spending time in indentured servitude (and, after escaping that, his time in training to become an assassin), Asher is extremely guarded, paranoid, hyper-vigilant, and has developed a very low sense of self-worth.
Kemmerer makes the clever decision of telling the story from rotating first-person perspectives (similar to the Game of Thrones books), where in each chapter we are in the head and heart of one of these three characters. Thus we get to see their attractions through their own eyes and not through the assumptions of others, but from their own observations, making their bisexuality that much more undeniable.
The approaches to their bisexualities are very different. Both are firmly early-on in their attraction to Jory. From Chapter 2, from Asher’s perspective:
—Why won’t you ever let me touch you?— I whisper.
For an instant, Asher’s eyes shutter, going dark, revealing nothing. But then his still-gloved thumb brushes over my lips. He’s staring at my mouth like a starving man, desperate for a meal. Half his body is against mine, and I suddenly realize it’s not just weapons I’m feeling.
—You don’t want me?
He closes his eyes and inhales. He’s so close I can hear the desire in his breath.
—It’s not a matter of want.
—Then why?
—Because I’m not the boy you remember.
Then in Chapter 9, we see Ky’s attraction to Jory from his perspective:
She [Jory] reaches out to trace a finger along the buckle of my bracer. Even through layers of leather and steel, I swear I can feel her touch, and it sends a pulse of warmth throughout my body. I suddenly feel the need to adjust the lacing of my trousers. This is terrible — I need to get it together.
What is fascinating here is watching the development of Ky’s and Asher’s attractions to each other, as it takes on different forms.
For Ky, bisexuality is neither new to him nor the world around him. In Chapter 20, he makes passing mention of male and female lovers he has had in the past. In Chapter 16, he points out some of his queer soldiers getting into a scuffle, noting that it is typical for them and normalizes what is known and accepted at the very least among his Incendarian regiment:
I’m not even sure what part of that little bickering match sparked it [my command to stop]. Callum flirts with anyone, and he’s attracted to everyone … Those two [bickering soldiers] will end up grappling in the snow in a moment. They might share a bed together later, but they’ll try to kill each other first.
Earlier in that same chapter, Ky notes his growing attraction to both Jory and Asher as the story progresses:
I need her [Jory] to trust me, because I don’t want her to hate me. It’s more than that, though. It’s about Asher, too. I don’t know how to explain that I simply couldn’t leave him there. Just like I couldn’t leave her there. Individually or together, they’re both intriguing. Compelling. Striking, if I’m being honest with myself. But they’re also exasperating. Complicated. Messy … Something about these two makes all of my protective instincts flare … It settles something inside me to know that I have them both in the carriage, safe and sound.
This comes up again for Ky multiple times (basically in every chapter that is from his point of view), but another good quote is from Chapter 24 about his attraction to both the princess and the assassin:
I don’t want to touch him [Asher] again, because I know it makes him anxious. Despite how badly he seems to want it … I think of the slow drag of her [Jory’s] fingers through the scruff of my chin, the way it was almost inquisitive. It stirs something inside me, and I’m surprised to realize it’s not different from how I felt about doing the same thing to him [Asher.]
As for Asher, his bisexuality takes more time for him to realize, as he is guarded and has barely allowed his attraction for Jory to persist all these years, let alone attraction to anyone else after his exile.
From Chapter 17:
Maddox Kyronan takes another step closer until his boots are at my knees.
—Asher, get up.
I say, —Fuck you.
The words sound juvenile and petulant, but I don’t care.
—Make me.
His expression doesn’t flicker, and his tone doesn’t change.
—Do you want me to make you?
As soon as I hear the question, my mouth goes dry, and I’m not entirely sure why. But the words are spoken with low intensity, and my heart suddenly beats hard. Maybe it’s the way his voice isn’t tight with anger, just quiet conviction. Or it’s the focus of his gaze. Or the fact that I’m on my knees at his feet, that this doesn’t feel like a threat. … Those fierce eyes haven’t left mine. Before I know it, I’m shaking my head.
—Good, he says, his voice unchanged. —Get up.
This time, the command sparks something inside me and … A sudden sweat slicks my back—some combination of pain, humiliation, and maybe a little bit of something else entirely.
Then in Chapter 18, when Ky wants to see a branding punishment the Astranza guards gave Asher:
—They did something to you. Show me.
I can see why his [Ky’s] soldiers are so loyal, because there is a shadow of guardianship here, of protection, that’s completely foreign to me …Sudden longing tightens in my chest, and it’s so unexpected that my breath almost catches. Fuck. Fuck. Because I hate him. He already tricked me once in this way. But something inside me craves every emotion his voice evokes. Something inside me trusts him, despite all he’s done and all that’s happened. I’ve been broken a thousand different ways, but never like this. Never with choice. Never with patience.
Later, in Chapter 25:
That’s the whole reason they need Maddox Kyronan. Ky. I haven’t found the courage to call him that again, despite the fact I’ve now spent two nights sleeping right beside him. This morning I woke before the sun, my body lying flush against his, my cheek pressed against his bicep. He was so warm that I didn’t want to move.
I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Normally I hate sleeping near anyone at all. And when people touch me, I usually want to stab them through the arm. But the king barely has to say my name or touch his fingers to my skin, and I’m no longer a trained killer. I’m a fucking lapdog. I’m never like that with anyone but Jory …
Her [Jory’s] fingertips were so cool against my chin, right beside his [Ky’s]. Like the moment in the tavern – the touch of their hands at the same time stirred up my insides and filled my veins with honey.
I rub my eyes. I need to stop thinking about this.
Both men have a surprising amount in common that draws them to one another beyond their physical bodies. Both admire each other’s deft skills in battle and sense of cunning, with a mutual respect and what they’ve seen, in a “battle buddy” type of kinship. Asher admires Ky’s form of leadership, which is far kinder than rumors have given him credit for. In turn, Ky admires Asher’s tenderness towards Jory, his agility and stealth in his work, and his wry sense of humor.
Eventually the three all realize their shared and equal attractions to each other, express their feelings for each other, and consummate the relationship. The bisexuality is not fetishized, and instead the dynamic comes more from their intense emotional connections than just their physical attractions to each other. Their relationship becomes a powerful poly triad ready to take on the next novel’s major conflict hand in hand — something rarely seen in mainstream media, and pretty much never seen in the romance-fantasy genre.
During her interview with Undercurrents of Romance, at the 14:45 mark, Kemmerer confirms that all three characters develop relationships with one another that fulfill different emotional needs and desires for each of them.
During an online Goodreads interview with readers, when asked where a reader can find other books she has written with MLM characters, she cites a few, such as the Cursebreakers series, noting that:
Both series are similar to WPA, where queer relationships are normal and unquestioned.
Warrior Princess Assassin has enjoyed success since its release, garnering a 3.93 out of 4 stars on GoodReads. It also won “Why Choose or Reverse Harem” in 2025 from the Reddit Fantasy Romance Awards.
Warrior Princess Assassin explores male bisexuality in a considerate way in a fantastical world where both elemental magic and queer magic are known, normalized, and respected. Both Ky and Asher’s admiration for each other is well documented and developed, resulting in two powerful, nuanced bi male leads in the elevated adult romance-fantasy genre. For these reasons, the book stands out as an exceptional example of male bisexuality in romance literature.