THE HOLLOW CROWN

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In a world where the dead don't stay dead, Caelum Vex burns bodies for a living.He was once a Sovereign—a Crown-bearer who fought the Echoes, the twisted copies of the dead that rise from the fog. But that was three years ago. Three years since his partner Varek died in a mission gone wrong. Three years since Caelum buried his Crown and swore never to wear it again.Now he scrapes by as a corpse-burner in the dying city of Ashfall, watching the faces of the dead melt into ash before they can rise. It's a quiet life. A simple life. A life without the screams of the Crown.Until a dying girl is dumped at his door.Lyra Ashford has been marked by an Echo-Spawn. The black veins are spreading across her arm, and she has mere days before she turns into one of them. Her father offers a fortune to any Sovereign who can save her.Caelum refuses. He's done with Crowns. Done with the toll they demand—the memories, the senses, the pieces of his soul they devour.But Lyra's eyes are desperate. Her voice is pleading.And Caelum has heard those words before. From Varek. In his final moments."I don't want to die."He bonds her with his Crown—Silence, the only Crown that doesn't scream—and saves her life. But saving her is just the beginning.Lyra's Crown is flawed. The Echo-Spawn inside her isn't dead—it's dormant, waiting to wake up. And the ancient Echo that's been sleeping beneath Ashfall for centuries is stirring, its hunger growing with each passing night.Caelum has thirty days to train Lyra to survive. Thirty days to teach her to fight. Thirty days to prepare for the awakening of an ancient horror that's been feeding on the city's dead for centuries.But the Hollow Court, a faction of Sovereigns led by the ruthless Ser Allistair Crane, has other plans. They want to harvest the ancient Echo—and they're willing to sacrifice everyone in Ashfall to do it.When Caelum discovers that Allistair was the one who killed Varek, the betrayal cuts deep. Now he's caught between a past he can't escape and a future he can't face.To save Lyra, to free Varek's trapped soul, and to stop the ancient Echo from destroying everything he loves, Caelum must do the one thing he swore he'd never do again.He must become a Sovereign once more. He must wear the Crown. And he must pay the price—no matter how high.

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