The Thornbone Covenant
When a dying knight drags himself into the Hollowmere inn with a horse cut to ribbons and a sword that will not stop bleeding, cartographer Brinna Vael inherits more than a debt. Folded into his cloak is a map drawn in sap and ash, charting a path through the Ashfen bogs to a tree older than the kingdom that would see it burn. That same night, the Verdant Court Inquisitors come asking questions, and the Silver-Eyed Messenger leaves a single black feather on her threshold. The covenant is old, her grandmother's name is written into its roots, and the Bound King is stirring beneath the Hollow Throne. Hunted by royal forces, guided by a Bone Compass that points only toward consequence, Brinna is forced into the company of Torren, Ysell Crane, and the reclusive Brother Saelis, each of them bound to a secret the Living Covenant Tree will not let them keep. As the Blightfields awaken and the Forest-Army rises, the Ashfen villagers are offered a single bargain: kneel to the crown, or bear the thorn. Brinna must decide whether the oath her bloodline swore is a chain to be broken or the only thing left standing between the world and the dark that waits beneath the Elderwood.