The throne has already fallen. Now, the rest of the world will burn.
The High Council's true endgame is no longer hiding in the shadows. In the heart of the Royal Palace, a catastrophic blood ritual has torn the capital apart, awakening an entity of suffocating, ancient darkness. The Ashen Sovereign has returned, and the kingdom's armies are powerless against a god of pure, necrotic mana.
Trapped at the epicenter of the destruction, Amara and Soren Valerius are the Vanguard's final, desperate hope. They have survived the brutal borderlands and the venomous politics of the court, but the war they now face cannot be won with steel or standard military tactics.
To stand against a primordial nightmare, they must push their opposing magics-her kinetic Sunfire and his devouring shadows-to the absolute breaking point. But wielding a power capable of defying a god comes with a terrifying cost.
As the capital crumbles around them, Amara and Soren must decide what they are willing to sacrifice to save a corrupt kingdom... and what they are willing to destroy to survive it.