Cinkarion: The Heart of Fire (Book Two in the Karionin Chronicles trilogy)

Tamar is a world inhabited by nine humanoid races, plagued by racial and religious hatreds, and steadily moving towards an epic war. But war is not new to Cibata, the largest continent in the Southern Hemisphere, where only one human nation, Cassinga, survives when once there were three, and the Senangan Empire, ruled by the tiger folk, has vowed to see its destruction. Saranith Kamrasi, a member of Senanga's royal family and an officer in its navy, is summoned by Cinkarion, one of eight living crystals. It brings her great power, but destroys her lifelong companion. Yet the Wizard Nathan, also born a Kamrasi but abandoned by his parents for lack of weresight, defends Cassinga despite his tiger blood. When the Wizard Elgan's apprentice is taken by the Senangans, Nathan and Elgan must turn to Jerevan Rayne, the man who hadn't wanted to be a wizard, and enter the heart of Senanga to rescue her, with the ultimate fate of Cassinga at stake. Cinkarion is the second book of the Chronicles of the Karionin trilogy.