The Thornblood Crown
The smoke found Sera Kaine before the fire did, curling around her ankles in the Ember Hall like a warning she had no name for. By dawn, Hollowmere is ash, her family is dead, and the only thing standing between her and the grave is a crown she never asked to wear. Forged of blackthorn and bound in Kaine blood, the Thornblood Crown has passed from heir to heir for generations, paid for in silence, in sacrifice, and in the quiet bargain the Thorn-witches of Witherwood demand of every ruler who sits the basalt throne. The Thorne dynasty knows the price. Sera is only now learning it. When Lord Beran Thorne summons her to claim her birthright, he offers power wrapped in velvet and a debt he swears is already paid. But Captain Reval carries secrets from the deep chambers, Ambassador Haldis trades in futures she cannot yet read, and the witches of Witherwood are watching with patient, hollow eyes. Her sister Letia haunts her in memory. Her brother Dalen has vanished into the war-torn provinces. And Olen Vaire, the court's most dangerous scholar, knows what really burned at Hollowmere. As Sera is pulled deeper into a court where every kindness hides a knife, she must choose: wear the crown and become the monster her enemies expect, or refuse it and watch the kingdom she was born to protect surrender to the dark.