The Thornbound Crown
The summons arrived on parchment so thin that Seraphina could read the courier's seal through its back. Three ravens had carried copies, their oils still glossy when she unfolded them in her cramped quarters above the cooper's shop. The wax bore the pressed thorn-and-crown of House Varen, and beneath the formal courtesies, the ink carried the unmistakable tremor of a hand that had not slept. Bound by a bargain her family made generations ago with the Thornwood Fey, Seraphina Ashworth is owed a debt no Ashworth can refuse. She travels to the dying estate of Hollowmere, where Lord Callum Varen waits with a mute guardsman, a scheming prince, and the whispering counsel of an Archivist who trades in secrets better left buried. The Thornmother's forest presses against the walls, her roots threading through the cellars, her thorns tasting the blood of every Varen who has ever tried to leave. And in the east tower, the apparition of Mira Ashworth , Seraphina's long-dead grandmother , reaches across the veil to warn her of a truth no one living will speak aloud. Each answer Seraphina uncovers only widens the circle of those who want her silenced, and the bargain that binds her grows tighter with every passing night. To save her bloodline, she must decide whether to honor a pact written in thorns , or tear it loose and let the Thornwood take what it is owed.