An Empire of Dragons: The Hollow Flame

Two weeks after the massacre in the Glittering City, Rhoric Stormwell and Sahvra are alive, hunted, and uncertain where to run. In the quiet village of Wheatfield, they try to disappear beneath false names and winter skies. But Solvere’s lies have already spread beyond the capital, and the Grand Duke’s territory may not be the refuge it first appears. Wanted posters name them traitors. Villages whisper about terrorists. And the Duke’s own agents seem far more interested in them than fugitives should ever want. When an offer of protection draws Rhoric and Sahvra into the politics of the Heartlands and Low Peaks, they find themselves caught between a tyrant tightening his grip and a would-be ally with ambitions of his own. Refugees become symbols. Justice becomes strategy. Rebellion begins to look dangerously like another kind of power. Far from Wheatfield, First Elect Solvere searches for the buried legacy of Emberthain’s first emperor. Beneath the mountains, something ancient and wrong still burns. And in the ashes of one atrocity, a hollow flame begins to rise.