S. H. Schreiber
She survived being kidnapped. Now she has to survive becoming queen.
Princess Lian of Aldon returns a ruined woman in the eyes of her kingdom. By every law of Aldon, she should have died in humiliation and disgrace. Instead, she is named heir to the throne.
With her father and brother dead, and the coronation only days away, Lian must survive a capital that wants her controlled, married off, or murdered before she can become queen. The noble houses see her as a walking scandal. The priests see her as a useful puppet.
And Dorem, her bastard half-brother, sees her as the woman standing between him and the crown.
He believes Aldon is collapsing under corruption, foreign influence, and weak rulers, and only he can save the kingdom. If Lian has to die for that future, so be it.
But Lian is no longer the obedient princess Aldon remembers. Lian led an army. She killed monsters. And now, she is the bloodmate of none other than the Butcher.
The Blood Oath with Daton led to unpredictable side effects: shadow magic. And that is something the Goddess will never tolerate.
Meanwhile, beyond the Mountains of Doom, the secrets of Monganthar begin to cross into Amada. Hornless Mongans are entering a world that does not yet understand what they are, and the demichads may have been nothing more than a rehearsal for the true darkness of the Goddess.
To claim the crown, Lian must outlive the men who want her dead.
To protect the people she loves, she must confront the gods who want her obedient.
Crowns Don’t Make Queens is book two in A Crown of Blood and Magic, a dark romantasy trilogy with political intrigue, forbidden romance, shadow magic, rival heirs, brutal gods, found family, morally gray characters, multiple first-person POVs, and a love powerful enough to reshape nations.