The Frost King's Trial

His blade wins the sixth kill—and the enemy princess on the judges' stand freezes, lips parting around a name he buried ten years ago. Valen Frostblade was supposed to be dead. Burned, exiled, erased. But Eliza Silverthorn knows the frostfire arc of that sword, and now she's leaning over the gilded rail with a deal carved in desperation: *Help me escape this gilded cage, or I'll tell them exactly who you are.* He was supposed to crush her kingdom. She was supposed to stay locked in her tower. But the trial masters have sealed the arena, and his next opponent is the son of the man who stole his throne—the one fight that will end in blood or revelation. Valen can claim vengeance, protect his secret, or save the one woman who could destroy him—but the frost trials only crown one survivor.