A Dance of Sword & Sorrow
(2026)(The fourth book in the Windtorn Chronicles series)
A novel by Brenda Trim
I came to rescue my friends. Instead, I found a choice I'm not ready to make.
General Thorne isn't the monster I expected. He's a man who watched my family die and has spent twenty years gathering evidence to prove the military's betrayal. He offers me the Crown of Vaelthorne, complete truth about my heritage, and something I've been searching for my entire life.
A father figure who actually wants me.
The problem? His solution involves enslaving every rider in the magical world.
The crown doesn't just symbolize authority—it compels obedience. Wearing it would give me the power to command every bonded dragon, every cipher, every magical being across the globe. I could end the war instantly. Save countless lives.
All it would cost is everyone's free will.
And I'm starting to understand the temptation.
Because people keep dying. Friends I've trained with. Riders who trusted me to lead them. Every day I refuse the crown, more blood spills. Every day I cling to principles, more bodies pile up.
Kael sees what it's doing to me. How the weight of those deaths is crushing my resistance. How the crown's whispers are getting louder, harder to ignore.
We're building a third option—a path between military tyranny and royal compulsion. But it requires trusting former enemies, forgiving unforgivable betrayals, and believing that cooperation can triumph over control.
Then Kael is captured. Tortured. Used as leverage by the man who's offering me everything I've ever wanted.
Why does the crown feel warm against my skin when I'm near it, like it's recognizing me?
Why are the Hollowmaw dying whenever I touch the crown's fragments, like my bloodline is poison to them?
Why does Thorne keep saying my mother would have made the same choice he's asking me to make?
And I have to choose: save the man I love, or save the world from what I might become.
Power doesn't corrupt instantly. It seduces you one impossible choice at a time.
Welcome to the endgame, where:
General Thorne isn't the monster I expected. He's a man who watched my family die and has spent twenty years gathering evidence to prove the military's betrayal. He offers me the Crown of Vaelthorne, complete truth about my heritage, and something I've been searching for my entire life.
A father figure who actually wants me.
The problem? His solution involves enslaving every rider in the magical world.
The crown doesn't just symbolize authority—it compels obedience. Wearing it would give me the power to command every bonded dragon, every cipher, every magical being across the globe. I could end the war instantly. Save countless lives.
All it would cost is everyone's free will.
And I'm starting to understand the temptation.
Because people keep dying. Friends I've trained with. Riders who trusted me to lead them. Every day I refuse the crown, more blood spills. Every day I cling to principles, more bodies pile up.
Kael sees what it's doing to me. How the weight of those deaths is crushing my resistance. How the crown's whispers are getting louder, harder to ignore.
We're building a third option—a path between military tyranny and royal compulsion. But it requires trusting former enemies, forgiving unforgivable betrayals, and believing that cooperation can triumph over control.
Then Kael is captured. Tortured. Used as leverage by the man who's offering me everything I've ever wanted.
Why does the crown feel warm against my skin when I'm near it, like it's recognizing me?
Why are the Hollowmaw dying whenever I touch the crown's fragments, like my bloodline is poison to them?
Why does Thorne keep saying my mother would have made the same choice he's asking me to make?
And I have to choose: save the man I love, or save the world from what I might become.
Power doesn't corrupt instantly. It seduces you one impossible choice at a time.
Welcome to the endgame, where:
- Villains offer everything you've ever wanted
Crowns whisper justifications for tyranny
Every principle has a body count
The man you love becomes the price of resistance
Saving the world might mean losing yourself
Perfect for readers who crave: Heroines tempted by terrible solutions • Father figures with devastating agendas • Power that makes evil look rational • Impossible choices with no right answer • Love tested by torture and leverage
Genre: Paranormal Romance