To Forge and Break Empires

Love has always been a weapon strong enough to forge and break empires. Deadly. Redeeming. Decisive. Cold. Warm. Eternal.

Aurelia Ravensbane is caught between two empires; one dying, and the other growing.

At 19, she is betrothed to 22-year-old Draeven Ter'danton Valerius, the crown prince of Vaelhoris, a frigid little kingdom on the Western Reaches of a forgotten corner of her father's sprawling, yet dying empire, the Zentheros Empire.

She expects that she will spend the rest of her life in marriage to a man she has met only once, and who she doesn't love or feel anything for; not hatred, not love, not affection, not even distaste... nothing.

While her older siblings secure better matches with princes and princesses from huge, influential kingdoms on the warm and beautiful Eastern Reaches of the Zentheros Empire, she will have to make do with Draeven of Vaelhoris. Because as the last child in a family of five, there is little influence or power to be gained from marrying her, so the ruling families of the more powerful kingdoms in the empire are quite uninterested in securing a betrothal with her, and she is forced to simply "make do" with Draeven.

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On the other side of the continent, the Thal-Gurian Empire grows, and in its rise, Lorgathen, the dark Emperor, seeks the blood of a princess descended from lesser gods, so he can make himself an all-conquering god through black magic. He has set his sights on Aurelia Ravensbane, and has sent some of his best warriors to launch an audacious attack into Vaelhoris, capture her, and drag her back to Gurkstanvane, the capital of Thal-Gur, in chains.

It is a cold battle for power, hearts, love, and godhood.

Who triumphs?