The Novel
The Bloodbound Crown
The Sundering Empire · Book One
General Kaelen Voss was the empire's most celebrated military mind — until she dared question a brutal campaign. Stripped of rank and exiled to the borderlands, she uncovers a horrifying truth: the empire's prosperity flows from ancient blood oaths that drain the life force of conquered peoples to fuel the capital's power and the emperor's immortality.
When she discovers that Emperor Aurelius plans to expand these magical bindings across the entire known world, she faces an impossible alliance with Thane Blackthorn — a resistance fighter whose family was sacrificed to strengthen the very oaths she once served to protect.
The choice tears at everything she believes in.
Preserve a corrupt empire and condemn millions to magical slavery — or shatter the blood oaths and unleash a catastrophic wave of energy that could destroy countless innocents. Either path leads to devastation. Either choice damns her soul.
Will you choose order or justice when both lead to ruin?
For fans of Joe Abercrombie's morally complex characters and R.F. Kuang's unflinching examination of power's true cost.