A Trial of Crimson and Thorns When seventeen-year-old Lysara Veth steps forward at the Selection, she makes a choice that cannot be undone. Taken into the Court of Eternal Night, she is thrust into the Crimson Trials, a brutal contest whispered about in fear and half-truths, where survival is never guaranteed and mercy is a myth. Every challenge strips something from those who enter. Trust. Hope. Blood. Lysara expects enemies in the dark. She does not expect the prince who watches her too closely, or the pull she cannot explain. As the trials tighten their grip and secrets surface where silence should reign, Lysara realizes the greatest danger may not be the monsters hunting her... but the choice waiting at the end. Because in a court where power feeds on fear and desire is a weapon, some victories demand more than survival. And the Queen is always watching