The Crown of Hollow Stars

When the stars vanished from the sky, the kingdom went into chaos. Nyra is seventeen, an orphan, and a star scribe who has spent her life working in the shadows of the temple. But when the night sky goes completely dark, she learns the truth the temple buried long ago, she is the last bloodline of a forgotten celestial dynasty, and the only one capable of bringing the stars back. The royal court doesn’t see a saviour. They see a weapon, or a crime waiting to be punished for going against them. The sky was wrong. Nyra stood barefoot on the temple roof, breath curling into the cold midnight air. No stars. Not a single flicker. Just a stretch of black velvet, as if the gods themselves had been snuffed out. Then the bells rang. Not the gentle call to prayer, but the sharp, frantic clang of war. “They know now,” the note in her hand said. Nyra didn’t need to read it twice. The moment the stars went silent, her fate had already been decided. Cornered and out of time, she reaches for the one thing forbidden, the Crown of Hollow Stars. And it answers. “Ugh. You’re late. Three dynasties collapsed. Two false kings died screaming. And now you show up barefoot and confused. Typical Starkeeper behaviour.” Bound to a mouthy, ancient crown and hunted by the people who raised her, Nyra is forced into a world far bigger and far deadlier than she ever imagined. Alongside Finn, the rightful Starbearer, she begins a dangerous climb toward truth, power, and a throne the kingdom never intended to give back.