Two Crowns, One Throne

The Emperor is dead. The Empire has two crowns.

When Marilius the Third dies without a clear heir, his empire splits down the middle in a single, bloody afternoon. In the east, Prince Ardovan seizes the throne through his grandfather's cunning. In the west, his half-brother Philip is crowned by the Church itself, with a black steel crown forged for war. Two men. Two capitals. One throne — and neither will yield.
But while lords bicker over blood and legitimacy, something older than either claim has already broken its centuries-long silence. Deep in the Sherwood — the forest men still tell campfire stories about — the demons that were supposed to be extinct are hunting again. And the first men sent to investigate never came home.
No one in the capital knows it yet. No one is looking. They're all too busy fighting over a throne that may not exist much longer to sit on.