Asher

Asher is one of the three main characters in the 2025 elevated romance-fantasy Warrior Princess Assassin by Brigid Kemmerer. It is the first book in the Braided Fate trilogy. The book was published under HarperCollins’ romance imprint, Avon Books.

Asher is an assassin who used to be the son of one of the main ladies-in-waiting to the queen of Astranza. However, at sixteen, Asher was labeled the son of a traitor and sold into indentured servitude, where he had to earn his freedom. He escaped his enslavement multiple times and ultimately became a member of the Hunter’s Guild, a band of assassins, and became well-trained in the art of killing. Still holding a torch for Princess Marjoriana, or “Jory”, from his youth, he still loves her and finds ways to sneakily visit. 

Asher discovers that an assassination plot is underway to take out both Jory and King Maddox Kyronan (Ky) of neighboring Incendar. To save them both, he kidnaps both Jory and Ky to flee the palace, which sets the plot in motion. 

Asher is a very well-developed character. He is smart, clever, incredibly agile, tender in his love towards Jory, observant, and street-smart. But he is not without his flaws, either. He is also deeply traumatized by his past time spent with the slavers – including some vague allusions to being used during sex trafficking – so he is incredibly guarded, paranoid, and hyper-vigilant. Since he has seen a darker side of the world since he was banished from the court, he had to disassociate to get through some of the toughest times, and much of this has worn down his self-worth so he often refers to himself as “I am nothing, I am no one.” (Part of this is from his assassin training for anonymity, but it is also from how badly he was treated during his servitude.) Asher can also be short-sighted in executing plans. 

Asher’s love for and attraction to Jory are apparent from the early chapters. He has a stolen moment in Chapter 2 with Jory when he sneaks into her room and they hold each other spoon-style on the bed. He can be hesitant to open up to her or allow himself to touch Jory due to his traumatic past, but the desire is still there:

—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.

A clever thing that Kemmerer does is have the chapters rotate in doing first-person narrative, à la the Game of Thrones stories. So with each chapter we are in a specific character’s head, hearing their thoughts and feelings for themselves. So at the end of, say, Chapter 8, we can hear from Asher himself that he loves and cares for Jory:

I swing high, gripping tight to each beam. —Asher.— Jory’s voice catches me before I reach the highest window.

—I believe you. I’ll go.

My heart leaps. And then she says: 

—But you can’t kill the king.

—I can. Without his magic he’s just another soldier.

Her voice isn’t small anymore. It’s strong and brave and clear, reminding me that she may be naive about the world outside these walls, but she’s a princess, and she still has a solid grip on my heart.

But as the adventure goes on, it becomes clear that Asher is wrestling with an attraction to Ky as well. But it’s much more of a slow burn than his lifelong attraction to Jory. From Chapter 12:

—Asher.— The king’s [Ky’s] voice gives me a jolt, and I jerk my head up. My heart stutters at the way he says my name.

And from Chapter 17:

Then later 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.

Then 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.

Queerness is not new to Asher’s world due to his traumatic past. But this attraction to men seems to be a new feeling within Asher. He mulls it over carefully, as he has barely allowed himself to hold onto his attraction/love for Jory during his dark years, not believing he is worthy of it. Though there is a brief moment in Chapter 17, where he realizes he felt attraction to Jory and other men before he was banished and put into servitude, he seems to have shut down any possibility of being loved or chosen until the novel gets going, and is very shy about approaching any of it. 

But a sense of protection, attraction, and respect for Ky (due to his military prowess/knowledge and a sort of shared “battle buddy” understanding of the grisliness of war) grows throughout the novel. Through discussion and processing, Ky and Jory eventually help guide Asher out of his shell. For his part, Ky is very careful about approaching his attraction to Asher due to learning about his storied background, and the men do not touch each other without express consent. We do want to underline that Asher’s attraction to both Jory and Ky is genuine and chosen, and not given or expressed under duress, as the author is careful not to conflate Asher’s past with his attractions to either of the other titular characters. 

In short, though Warrior Princess Assassin does not use the term “bisexual”, Asher’s attractions to both Ky and Jory are clear and expressed (usually with Asher talking about his attraction to both within each of the chapters, often only sentences apart of each other). It is discussed and explored explicitly under Asher’s terms. As such, the resulting MMF poly triad at the end of this book, with equal attractions and standings with each other within the relationship structure, is a notable and rare exception in the genre of romance-fantasy.