She was born without light. The whole realm called her useless. Her brother Cassian threw her into the Shadowlands and killed their mother on the way out. Nobody knew—that wasteland was the only place that could wake the blood inside her. She came back alive. In the High Hall, her starlight exploded. The thousand-year law broke. Cassian knelt. The nobles fell. She took the throne. Kael leaned in behind her and whispered, “Your mother isn’t dead. Cassian has her in the lowest cell.” She had just won everything. The real war hadn’t even started.