The Ember King Rises

Vaelren Kett is a smith who trusts iron more than men, and iron has never lied to him, until the night a stranger delivers a strange ingot to his forge in Briarwood. When Vaelren strikes the metal, it bleeds silver, and something long-bound stirs in the hills. By morning, Ashenkin Raiders are probing the village borders, and an old wanderer named Corren insists the smith has awakened a slumbering king. As the Hollowbound Knights ride in pursuit of a vanished crown, Vaelren is drawn into a conflict older than the realm itself: the Ember King stirs, his Ashen Vow Legion gathers in the dark, and a conspiracy in the shadows of Briarwood seeks to decide which throne will rise from the ashes. With only a foreign blade, a cursed stranger, and the woman Lyssa Thornholt at his side, Vaelren must decide whether a blacksmith can become the hand that breaks, or binds, a kingdom.