Shadows and Crowns

The old gods are growing restless. An ancient evil is stirring. Can they stop the coming storm? Mercenary Casia Greythorne cares about two things: completing whatever her latest job is, and earning enough coin to buy the expensive medicine that's keeping her mentor alive. So when the king himself offers her a job, she can't resist the massive reward he offers-even if it means working with Captain Elander, the arrogant, mysterious right-hand to that king. Her partner may be infuriating, but at least their mission seems simple and quick enough: investigate the origins of the strange plague that's been ravaging their empire, help find a cure, and then call it a day. But in a land brimming with old magic and meddling gods, nothing is ever that simple, and nothing is ever what it seems. As the bodies pile up and strange monsters begin to wreak havoc throughout the realms, Cas and Elander will have to work together to protect their world whether they like it or not. Because one thing is clear: something ancient and evil is stirring in the shadows of that world. And their empire will not survive its full unleashing.

Who is Casia Greythorne? Still reeling from an unimaginable loss and the revelation of an identity she isn't sure she wants to embrace, Casia has one plan: Try to control the strange magic awakening inside of her. Mastering that magic will take her and her friends on a quest through cursed lands, into the dwellings of old gods, and deep into a southern empire filled with deadly foes and unlikely allies. Meanwhile, the foundations of the Kethran Empire continue to crumble. The king-emperor clings to his crown with increasingly bloodied hands. Monsters and soldiers alike stalk Casia's every step, determined not to let her return to claim a throne that is rightfully hers. Still, the greatest threat to her possible rule may not lie in the king-emperor, but in a former captain of his army-a man that she came dangerously close to falling in love with. Elander Revenmar thought he knew who he was. He had a mission, a plan, a god he was content to serve. Then came Casia. A woman as mysterious as she is dangerous. One he should have stayed away from, and whose life he never should have saved. Because salvation always comes with a cost. And some debts can only be paid for in blood.

War is building. Blood is spilling. And the gods are not pleased. Casia has survived her brother's attempts to crush her and her growing army, but the battle for their empire is just beginning. Bitter and wounded, carrying the curse of a dark and dangerous upper-god, and desperate for more allies, she charges northward to seek the elves who once walked alongside the divine beings. The elven Court of Moreth holds knowledge. Secrets. And power. The kind of power that could shift all of Casia's wars in her favor. If she can survive the dangerous politics and treacherous magic of the elf-kind. While these outer battles rage, so too do the ones within. Elander is losing what remained of his divinity. His court. His powers. His grasp on what he once was and what he once knew. But he's determined to keep fighting, gathering his own ancient allies, and working to aid Casia in her wars. He lost her once. He won't do it again. But his devotion to her may be the very thing that destroys him. And when that destruction comes, it comes with a twist-one that could change their entire world. Forever.

Gods have fallen. A queen is rising. And the world will never be the same. The highest throne in the Kethran Empire lies vacant, its once-ruler now a god-ascending, bringing more chaos and darkness to an already chaotic world. The line between the divine and mortal realms is blurring. The battlefield is set. A final, devastating war is on the horizon. Casia Greythorne has finally come home to claim the throne that is rightfully hers-one that she hopes she can use to unite her empire and help it survive a war with the very gods themselves. But to take hold of her crown, she'll have to wrestle it free of a past that she's avoided for too long. One that is even more complicated than she realized. The answers she needs to win her war-and save her world and the people she loves-all lie within that past . . . But discovering them might destroy any hope she has of a future.

S. M. Gaither presents Book 5 in the Shadows and Crowns series.