Long Live the Crown by Maddyson Wilson

EMBER LEVIN is numb.
The Bloodhound, the primal, savage killer who lives deep within the recesses of her mind, has given her a gift: the gift of numbness. This night, however, the gift is stronger. Angrier. It’s cries nearly threaten to swallow Ember alive. Built on the backs of thousands of innocent, dead East Sectors, this gift, this holy anger, will lead Ember to the empress’ citadel, to her bedchambers. Tonight, she knows that the past year of murder will come to a crescendo. Armed with an old hunting knife and an innate fury, Ember Levin will adhere to the Bloodhound’s ultimate call, her final task: tonight, Empress Analita of Kadjar will die.

KY MCKENNA is stuck.
There has always been a hole in Ky McKenna’s heart: a hole the size of a small fishing town called Calais. Nestled on the coast, hundreds and hundreds of miles away from Angeles, Ky McKenna’s father opens his home to the son that he abandoned all those years ago. Every summer, Ky McKenna, the bastard son of the Angelesan Court, knows what it feels like to belong. Every summer, Ky McKenna is loved. Love, he finds, comes in the form of a six-foot tall, curly-headed boy who wraps him in his arms and whispers poems of peace and love. Every summer, Ky McKenna swears to himself that he’ll find a way to be with Jude forever. This summer, though, Ky is asked to stay, for good, with the only community, the only true home that he’s ever known. But Angeles–who is Ky to dare to think of himself over everything that he has to protect back in Angeles? Prince Roman can’t bear the weight of the truth of what happened to his mother alone. And, what would happen to Ky’s own mother should he leave Angeles for good? What would King Nero do to the only woman who ever rejected him? The choices are clear: choose Calais, and potentially risk his mother’s life and his best friend’s sanity. Or, choose Angeles and lose his love, his father, and the only home he’s ever known.

ROMAN STONE is afraid.
He has never wanted to rule. He knows that he is not made of iron and stone like his father and the generations of princes before him. Roman has only ever wanted to make sure that his little brother is safe–the rest of it is merely a formality to keep his father happy. When the Festival of Light comes around, King Nero locks himself away in his office. Roman is offered a chance at escape–two seats on a cargo ship headed to the other side of the world. But, for the first time in his life, Roman is met with a pang of guilt. His birthright, this divine gift given to him by the heavens: who is he to give the throne up? Who is he to refuse his people? Running from the palace with his little brother held tight in his arms, Roman must choose: his birthright, his throne, or his and his little brother’s safety?