A Crown of Borrowed Light
Nine hundred and twelve years the sacred flame of Ashenmoor has burned atop its basalt altar, until the night it gutters, dies, and an ancient order begins to crumble. Maren Ashford, the last sworn keeper of the fire, is left with only riddles from the Keeper, her cryptic mentor, and the growing suspicion that the flame's death was no accident. As news of the flame's fall spreads, Lord Harren marshals his forces against the weakened sanctuary, hungry for the power the sacred light once held over the realm. Two men arrive in Ashenmoor with designs on the ruined altar, and on Maren herself. Theron Blackwood came cloaked in shadow on the night of the flame's death, a stranger who knows too much about the fire's ancient binding. Cassian Vale, heir to the family whose bloodline is threaded through the flame's oldest legends, offers Maren restoration in exchange for a hand she never offered. Bryn, the only friend Maren trusts, warns her that both men want more than the flame. And Lady Vespera Vale, Cassian's calculating sister, has come to Ashenmoor with promises of her own. With embers cooling and enemies gathering, Maren must untangle the truth behind the flame's death before the borrowed light she once guarded is claimed by those who would wield it as a crown. Her choice will decide whether Ashenmoor rises from the ashes, or burns with her.