The Trial Of Crowns. The Crownless Games, #2

A crown can save a kingdom. It can also teach it how to kneel. After surviving the Crownless Games and restoring the name of House Venn, Lyra Venn is no longer just a street fighter from Marrowgate. She is the Eighth Champion, a symbol of remembrance in a kingdom still trembling from buried truths. But the Games are not finished with her. When a hidden trial awakens beneath the Crownless Palace, Lyra is forced into a kingdom shaped by famine, fear, corrupted memory, and the dangerous promise of absolute power.
To pass, she must rule for thirty days without surrendering to the one thing every desperate ruler is offered: a crown that can make people obey. With old allies beside her and new enemies watching from the shadows, Lyra must face a question more dangerous than any blade or battlefield: can a kingdom be saved without turning its people into pieces on a board?The Trial of Crowns is a sweeping political fantasy of magical trials, royal power, hidden history, impossible choices, and one champion's fight to prove that true leadership is not about wearing the crown, it is about what you refuse to sacrifice for it.