The Verdant Throne
When Elira Marnwood uncovers a forbidden map tucked between brittle folios in Hollowmere Abbey's scriptorium, she traces a forgotten path to the Verdant Throne, a buried crown pulsing beneath the roots of a kingdom that refused to die. Her discovery awakens the Hollow Children, soul-bound echoes of a murdered royal line, and summons the ruthless Prince Aldric Veylan and his mother Queen Seraphine Veylan to march upon the forest with the Royal Guard Company at their backs. Changeling doubles have already begun replacing entire towns, and only the Shadow-Courier Dren knows the safe roads through the encroaching dark. Dragged from her quiet life of ink and parchment, Elira joins forces with Brother Vellan, the reluctant Lady Vesper Mournhall of House Mournhall, and the enigmatic Wistren, the Forest's Witness, to reach the throne before the Veylan forces do. But the Forest-Heir Daughter stirs beneath the Crowned Trees, and the Verdant Throne has been waiting centuries for a cartographer's apprentice to claim a crown she never sought. To save the living forest, Elira must decide whether to bind herself to a destiny written in roots and bone, or watch the Hollow rise and the world burn green.