Characters

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.

Krysthalia’s life was forged in the crucible of the Stricken Wars. When her mother, Queen Isalara, and her father, the Prince Consort, fell defending Greyclaw during the first great incursions, Krysthalia was thrust into power. With Bastion Keep broken and her people scattered, she rose as Matriarch, rallying what remained of her armies. In those bleak years, she fought not just for survival but for unity, drawing fractured realms together when the continent threatened to collapse beneath Wrath’s endless tide.

It was in that chaos she met Tirian — a warrior whose courage and brilliance at her side became both her greatest strength and her deepest bond. Together, they carved out victory after victory, none greater than at Marrowvale, where they stemmed a Stricken horde threatening to drown the heartlands. When the final battle came, Krysthalia, Tirian, and their allies — including Beiron Grayare — stood together on the plains of Azai, where Wrath, the Dark Lord himself, was at last defeated.

In the years that followed, Krysthalia rebuilt Greyclaw as an unassailable bastion. Marrowvale rose from ruin into a citadel of stone and warding — its walls so strong no force could break them, and its wards so absolute no spell could pierce them. For a time, it seemed as though the nightmare was ended. Yet Greyclaw’s greatest wound came not from without but within, when betrayal from those closest unraveled the protections she had so carefully forged.

Krysthalia’s heart was defined by her children. Her firstborn, Codie, was raised with all the love and attention she could give, though in later years she admitted she had been too consumed with rebuilding and war to see the fullness of what he needed. The birth of Ashanti — loud, bright, and uncontainable — awakened something in her, teaching her what motherhood was truly meant to be. With Ashanti she was unshakably tender, protective, and joyful, rediscovering what she wished she had given her son.

The loss of Ashanti shattered her world. Hope became her only weapon against despair, and though years stretched long, she held to the belief that her daughter still lived. When mother and daughter were finally reunited, it was not in peace but at the edge of reckoning, with darkness closing in. In that moment, Krysthalia’s love and fury aligned — no longer merely a queen, she became the shield of her child. Now, she prioritizes her role as mother above all else, vowing that no power, mortal or dark divine, will ever take Ashanti from her again.

Tirian’s early life was marked by devastation. Born to a quiet village far from the courts of kings, he was thrust into grief when the Stricken swept across his homeland. His family was slaughtered, his home reduced to ash. Consumed with vengeance, Tirian sought out battle after battle, fighting with a fury that courted death. He was a man hollowed by loss, finding meaning only in the next enemy to strike down.

It was Krysthalia, newly risen queen in those grim years, who pulled him back from the abyss. Their conversations began out of necessity — she needed allies, and he had the strength and resolve to stand against the horrors. But necessity grew into understanding, and understanding into something deeper. In her presence, Tirian discovered a reason beyond revenge. She warmed his heart, giving him purpose not in death, but in life. Together, they became inseparable: two warriors bound by love and battle, fighting side by side at Marrowvale to stem the advance of a Stricken horde.

When victory came on the plains of Azai with Wrath’s defeat, Tirian remained at Krysthalia’s side not only as her champion but as her husband. He cherished their firstborn, Codie, though he too bore the weight of hindsight in realizing how much the boy had lacked from parents consumed by war and rebuilding. With Ashanti’s birth, everything shifted. Her laughter, her fierce energy, and her irrepressible voice stirred something in him long buried. She reminded him of the family he had lost, but also of what could be cherished anew. Tirian embraced fatherhood with a depth that surprised even himself, vowing to never again let his family slip through his hands.

Yet fate is rarely kind to those who love too deeply. When darkness rose again and calamity threatened Greyclaw, Tirian gave all he had to defend his family and his people. In the aftermath of battle, his body was broken, and only through a wyrdwood technique was he bound in a state of suspension — sealed between life and death. For years, he lay beyond reach, until Ashanti, newly awakened to her powers, placed her hands upon him and drew him back. Her healing rekindled not only his body but his spirit, marking another turning point for the Del Rathaile line.

Tirian’s legacy is that of a warrior reshaped by love — a man who once sought death, but instead found meaning in his wife, his children, and the fragile yet enduring hope of Greyclaw.

Beiron hails from House Grayare, one of the oldest and most influential bloodlines of Faeyren. A man of iron will and unrelenting drive, he earned his reputation not behind a council table, but on the battlefield. When the Stricken Wars tore through the land, Beiron fought at the forefront, leading the armies of Faeyren with a ferocity that would come to define him. His enemies and allies alike named him the Warlord of Faeyren — a title he neither sought nor rejected, for it was won in blood.

It was in those desperate years that his path converged with Krysthalia and Tirian. Standing together against impossible odds, their combined forces stemmed the tide of horrors. The alliance was sealed on the plains of Azai, where Beiron fought alongside them in the final struggle to cast down Wrath, the Dark Lord himself.

In the aftermath of victory, Beiron returned to his city to rebuild, carrying the scars of war into governance. Where Krysthalia raised Marrowvale into a fortress, Beiron shaped Faeyren into a city of order and discipline, knowing well that chaos always waits at the edge of civilization. He is stern, unyielding, and often feared as much as he is respected, his decisions marked by pragmatism and an unwavering focus on survival. To those under his command, he is both commander and shield; to those across the council table, a man whose resolve brooks no weakness.

Beiron’s ferocity on the battlefield contrasts with the storm of his private life. His relationship with his son, Auren, is fraught with unspoken tensions — Beiron’s uncompromising standards and harsh lessons often clashing with Auren’s fiery spirit. To others, he may seem cold, but to Auren, every demand and critique hides a father’s desperate desire to prepare him for the burdens to come.

Though stern, Beiron’s legacy is one of power and survival. He is the warrior-statesman who carried Faeyren through its darkest age, the Warlord of Faeyren whose ferocity helped turn the tide against Wrath, and the father whose expectations weigh as heavily as his love.