MarrenMerric
The immortal founders are dead, leaving the black-blooded Truebloods in peril. Dying Emperor Edward must choose between his twin sons: Verdurian, the golden heir, and Darkion, the crippled exile from the Arctic North.
Fearing a coup, Verdurian's Empress-mother sends him east to Eusaeria to raise an army and seize his own throne. Meanwhile, in frozen Arckend, the mutationless Darkion renounces his bloodline and serves the Wards who raised him. But when a letter names him heir, paranoia ignites. To protect him, his Ward sends him into the cursed Dark Country to awaken a titan-killing beast. Instead, he wakes a vampire god.
Cursed and lifeless, Darkion returns possessed, his undead legions devouring the North's capital until one man sacrifices himself to end the horror. The castle burns. The boy dies.
In the East, Verdurian's war against tribal king Herant collapses when he kills his own bastard son. Unaware a demonic bargain saved him, he survives a divine strike and awakens marked with burning silver scars. He returns to ruin and exile.
In the capital, Darkion survives an assassination by his sister. Their black blood binds; their hair turns violet-the color of the gods. Deified, they now want to force the crown upon their heads yet his heart remains in the North.
Returning North, the man who raised him drives a sword through Darkion's chest. But Katrien pulls him from death. Wounded, Darkion takes the throne he never wanted: The Crown of Ice. The coronation shatters the realm. Verdurian, forged in flame, returns to claim the crown but is branded heretic for his forbidden bargains. Hunted, he steals the last World Titan from Edward's line.
War erupts. Verdurian crushes the capital. Darkion is betrayed and cast again into the cursed dark as his brother rises beyond mortality.
The world's fate rests on two sons: one crowned in silver flame, one buried in ice and blood.