New cover options: Help me decide #MFRWhooks

I received an opinion from a respected colleague that the front cover of The Falcon of Imenotash just doesn't work. Hey, I like it, but my opinion apparently doesn't coincide with market preferences. My colleague noted that the cover doesn't give any indication of the passion and violence in the story. So noted.

I have several options for new front cover designs. I know which I prefer, but--as admitted earlier--what I like isn't necessarily the best choice. Help me decide which cover appeals. Which one would persuade you to pick the book off the shelf and read the blurb?

Look at the cover options below and then check the design you prefer. There's no right or wrong answer.

Cover 2

Cover 6

Cover 3

Cover 7

Cover 4

Cover 8

Cover 5

Original Cover

Blurb: 

​The emperor of the Harudin Empire needs an heir and cannot produce one of his own body. He orders the most worthy of his worthless sisters to wed and produce an heir. That sister, Aridis, chooses Edan and offers him a promotion from captain of the palace guard of Imenotash to king. He accepts his queen's proposal. Their mutual respect evolves into attraction and--dared they admit it--love. Displeased by his sister's choice and unable to dissolve the newlyweds' union, the emperor summons them to the capital city. Humiliation and degradation follow. The peasant-born warrior and the concubine's daughter have little opportunity to restore their honor and dignity, but they're keeping secrets from the emperor that may prove his doom.

Read An Excerpt from 
​The Falcon of Imenotash 
​Available only on Amazon