the Crown Beneath Ash: 2

Every road Klaus Crowe follows leads closer to the kingdom that erased his name. Radiant Calamity has earned a reputation for surviving contracts that should have killed lesser adventurers. Yet the dangers waiting beyond the Diamond Road are more than isolated monsters and unfortunate accidents. Travelers are disappearing, soldiers are answering voices beneath the earth, assassins are targeting Klaus's companions, and sealed reports are passing through a hidden network that reaches across kingdoms. While Sera fights to preserve the lives caught in their path, Rika follows secrets meant for the Raven of Embers, and Eric discovers how far their enemies will go to weaken the party. Klaus can no longer treat each crisis as a separate threat. Someone is guiding events from the shadows, and every answer draws him nearer to Noxara and the royal bloodline he has spent his life concealing. Protecting the people who chose him will require Klaus to confront the father whose trail refuses to disappear and decide how much of the prince he was born to be he is willing to become. The Crown Beneath the Ash is the second book in the Blood Before Dawn series, continuing a character-driven progression fantasy filled with dangerous contracts, evolving abilities, court intrigue, fierce loyalty, romance, and a found family willing to challenge kingdoms together.