A Throne of Crows
Maren Blackthorn emerges from the Thornwild on the third morning, her mare lathered and her cloak torn by blackthorn and ash, to find the realm she left behind unrecognizable. Below her, Seravelle spreads like a torn page beneath a sky the color of old pewter, and the Ravensbourne dynasty , the family that has held the throne for three generations , is consuming itself from within. Ash Ravensbourne presses his claim with an army at his back, while his sister Elara Ravensbourne guards what remains of the royal household, and their enigmatic brother Cassiel Ravensbourne plays a longer game with the exiled heir Lirael Ashwood as his hidden piece. In the Greycastle keep, Vesper Greycastle prepares for siege, and the scarred mercenary Bram Halloran rides at the head of a company whose loyalty can be bought. The only voice of warning comes from Old Hettie, a hedge-witch whose crow-counting prophecy has begun to come true: three crows for a death, seven for a war, and a single black feather falling at the foot of the throne. Maren knows what waits in the bramble-wild , she has bled for it , but she cannot outrun the war that follows her out. When Corvax, the masked figure whispered to have killed the last true king, offers her a name, a blade, and a choice, Maren must decide what she is willing to betray to survive the season of crows. The throne is empty, the ravens are gathering, and every oath she swears will be remembered.