For centuries, the seven kingdoms of the north have fought over ancient bloodlines, forgotten oaths, and thrones said to carry the blessing of the first king.

Eirik wants none of it.

Raised far from courts and royal blood, he has spent his life believing himself to be an ordinary man. But when the dead begin whispering his name and an ancient crown appears in his hand, Eirik is drawn toward Veyrland—the heart of a kingdom built upon a secret older than history.

There, he discovers that the seven kingdoms were never founded to protect their people. Their kings have been part of a cycle that has continued for thousands of years, each generation carrying fragments of something known only as the Elder Blood.

And Eirik is the first person capable of carrying all of it.

As forgotten kings awaken, ancient armies return from the dead, and a mysterious people known as the Forgotten emerge from beyond the boundaries of the known world, Eirik must confront the truth behind his existence.

He is not a chosen hero.

He is not the heir to a throne.

He may not even be entirely human.

With Liv—the woman whose forgotten past is bound to his own—and Yngvi, a man carrying the sins of an age long buried, Eirik must uncover the origin of the Elder Blood before the ancient world beneath the mountains rises again.

But the greatest danger is not the war between kingdoms.

It is the choice waiting beyond the ancient door.

A place where every life that could have existed still exists.

A place where every regret can become reality.

A place where Eirik can have everything he ever wanted—if he is willing to sacrifice the world he actually lives in.

To end the cycle, Eirik must make a choice no king before him was willing to make:

not who should rule, but whether anyone should rule at all.

In a world built upon blood, memory, and forgotten names, Eirik's greatest act of rebellion may be the simplest one—

to choose himself.