Known by many names — the assassin Shade, the princess Ashanti Del Rathaile, and the tender childhood nickname Little Moon — she stands at the heart of Broken Chains, Restored Crown. Her story is one of survival, fractured memory, and the long road toward reclaiming a stolen identity.
As a child, Ashanti was heir to the Greyclaw throne, daughter of Queen Krysthalia and King Tirian. That life ended in fire and shadows when the Stricken breached the keep and her caretaker, Maela, led her down into the depths. What awaited her was not safety, but the Hollow Vows — a secretive, merciless order that carves children into weapons. There she was stripped of her name, her warmth, and her family, and forced to live only as “Shade,” a silent assassin with no past beyond the blade.
Years under their control left her cold and efficient. She moved through shadows like a phantom, summoned weapons from void-forged darkness, and cut down commanders, mages, and monsters without hesitation. Yet even in this life, glimpses of another self persisted: haunting dreams of a white-haired woman reaching out through storms, a forgotten lullaby, the smell of a humble meat pie reminding her of something like home. These small fractures in her conditioning hinted at a deeper truth — that the Hollow Vows had not erased her completely.
Ashanti’s journey in Book One is the slow, painful reawakening of that truth. She begins the story as Shade, a weapon of the Hollow Vows, but each step forces her to confront the echoes of who she was and who she could become. The return to her mother, Krysthalia, is not just a reunion between queen and lost daughter, but a collision between the person Ashanti was meant to be and the weapon she was shaped into. Her healing power, thought long gone, stirs again; her ties to Greyclaw’s royal line are revealed; and beneath it all, a divine spark whispers that she is more than either assassin or princess.
What makes Ashanti compelling is the tension between her fragility and her strength. She is scarred, young, and afraid — but resilient, capable of facing horrors most seasoned warriors flee. Her compassion has survived where it should have been extinguished, and though she wrestles with guilt and doubt, it is precisely this humanity that draws others to her. Cael, Auren, and Eryx each see something worth protecting, worth following. To Krysthalia, she is both a daughter and a miracle. To the Hollow Vows, she is a lost asset. And to the enemies stirring in the shadows, she is a threat tied to prophecies older than kingdoms.
By the end of Broken Chains, Restored Crown, Ashanti is no longer only Shade. She is no longer only the Little Moon. She stands at the threshold of becoming herself again — not just a survivor, but a girl who will shape the course of kingdoms and gods.
I am a test of section 2