What’s in a name?

In the Last Empire, a name is the most powerful weapon you can possess. If you can write the true name of a person, you can bind it to your will. In the great vault of the First City, the Book of Names lists the true name of every loyal Imperial subject, binding each of them to their place in society and in servitude to the Empress Lian. There are some names, however, that even the Empress will not write...

Hated and feared - spoken of in hushed whispers throughout the Empire and beyond - the notorious warrior known as Witherfist was once a territorial lord, overseeing the lands and subjects of the Last Emperor. On the wrong side of a political power play by the Empress Lian, she and her fellow lords made a terrible bargain: inking the names of ancient and malevolent spirits onto their skin in a contract that would grant them supernatural powers. Though she is unmatched in combat, her blackened and withered sword-hand is rumoured to drain the soul of whoever she touches. Now, she is banished by the Empress Lian from the lands she once swore to protect and now must find a way to return not only to her home and her family but also her humanity...

When a coup deposed Arren Kalendra’s father from the throne of the Last Empire, the young princess was branded a fugitive and stranded outside of the lands she was once destined to rule. To restore just and rightful rulership to her homelands, Arren must seek out new allies and gather a force capable of challenging not only the might of the Imperial Army but also the political cunning of her mother, the Empress Lian. She will delve deep into forbidden magics and threaten to plunge the world into all-out war, as she dares to speak the true name of a dead tyrant and his centuries-frozen army...