Richelle Mead's 'Age of X' series: See the cover of book 2 -- EXCLUSIVE

Richelle Mead is probably best known for the vampire-centric worlds she created with YA favorites Vampire Academy and Bloodlines. So to keep fans on their toes,Mead introduced Age of X, an adult series, to the fray with Gameboard of the Gods. The sequel, The Immortal Crown, is due May 29, 2014. But we’ve got an exclusive first look at the cover. “I’m so thrilled with this new cover and the first book’s redesign,” Mead says. “Mae looks both tough and ethereal here, and fans of the series will probably already have an idea of what’s being hinted at. It was a concept mentioned in the first book that’ll now become more and more meaningful in this next installment. I can’t wait for people to read it!”

If you need a little refresher, here’s the official description for The Immortal Crown: “Gameboard of the Gods introduced religious investigator Justin March and Mae Koskinen, the beautiful super soldier assigned to protect him. Together they have been charged with investigating reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods, both inside the Republic of United North America and out. With this highly classified knowledge comes a shocking revelation: Not only are the gods vying for human control, but the Elect—those special humans marked by the divine—are turning against each other in bloody fashion.

Their mission takes a new twist when they are assigned to a diplomatic delegation headed by Lucian Darling, Justin’s old friend and rival, going into Arcadia, the RUNA’s dangerous neighboring country. Here, in a society where women are commodities and religion is intertwined with government, Justin discovers powerful forces at work even as he struggles to come to terms with his own reluctantly acquired deity.

Meanwhile, Mae—grudgingly posing as Justin’s concubine—has a secret mission of her own: finding the illegitimate niece her family smuggled away years ago. But with Justin and Mae resisting the resurgence of the gods in Arcadia, a reporter’s connection with someone close to Justin back home threatens to expose their mission—and with it, the divine forces the government is determined to keep secret.”