The Smoldering Sun

A.B. 642, the Cold Moon. The golden empire of Vesteria holds its breath. Lord Aerys Vaeldryn lies in bed after forty-seven years on the throne, his right arm rotting. The children of a bedridden father are about to begin their own wars in the shadows of the palace: Lord Redna, secretly betrothed to the woman he loves, fighting to protect his younger brother Roen; Lord Ravyn, transforming the envy that grew in his brother's shadow into a lethal plan; Lord Roen, falling victim to a forest ritual under false promises of awakening. Within the palace, the lords of the nine houses calculate their own moves. Three antagonists move in silence: the Pythor lord Haemor, Solyma's lost heir Barrabhas, and Vaeldryn's own son Ravyn. This volume begins with the last ordinary morning, and ends with the disappearance of a Vaeldryn brother.