The Ash Beneath Her Name
The tavern stank of tallow smoke and old grief, and Elira Vesper had let grief become her only companion. Three cups deep at the Crooked Antler, with Hargun's Wake lanterns gathering outside the shrine, she has forgotten her blade , and tried to forget everything else. Then Maren Vesper walks back into her life, but not as the sister she lost. Maren is claimed now, reshaped by a hollow queen who names herself Serath Vey, and the sister Elira buried has become something she may have to bury again. Drawn northward by a captive's silence and a fireblood ghost's warning, Elira finds herself in the company of the Ashwarden, an old fireblood named Greta Hallow who guards secrets in her bones, and a glassblower named Orin whose craft hides more than it reveals. Varn Dross has debts of his own. Sable Kerren's captivity is older and stranger than any chain. As the Hollow Queen rises and the Empty Hands close around the Vespers, Elira must choose whether to fight for a sister who no longer remembers her, or stand aside and let the ash finally take the name she can no longer carry.