THE ETHROS CHRONICLES
Meet the characters who open the story. These introductions stay with the early chapters and leave later revelations to the novel.
SHADOW & LIGHT
Raised on the frozen streets of Frostgard under the name Folk, Leo learns to read danger before trusting anyone. At nineteen, the Phoenix Glove and the name Shadoval reveal an inheritance he never chose. Sharp-minded and outwardly hard, he still refuses to abandon the people he calls family.
HOUSE OF FLAMES
Nera appears as Leo’s powers begin to escape his control. She commands fire, speaks with an edge of irony, and knows more about his identity than he does. Her help has its own reasons: a score to settle with the emperor, and an understanding of truths that can overturn a life.
GUARDIAN & UNCLE
Leandra’s brother and Leo’s maternal uncle, Kieran carried the infant out of the fall of his house and into another world. For nineteen years he watched from the shadows. Burdened by those he could not save, he steps forward when hiding Leo is no longer enough to protect him.
KEEPER OF A SECRET
A blind old woman at the edge of Frostgard, Sibylla is a witch to the townsfolk and a rare source of kindness to Leo. She guards the truth of his name and understands the danger of the glove. Her warning is simple: listen to the promise of power without obeying it.
THE EMPIRE
Malakur’s name is bound to the destruction of the House of Twilight nineteen years before the story begins. His pursuit reaches beyond Ethros, and his soldiers hunt Leo. Imperial power threatens the young man’s identity and freedom, while concealing secrets older than the empire itself.