The Bastard in the Mask

In Veyrholm, there is no king.

The city is ruled by seven ancient crime houses-each controlling money, religion, soldiers, assassins, medicine, law, or secrets. Their power is inherited through sacred magical masks, relics said to carry the wisdom of the ancestors. But every heir who wears one pays a terrible price: the mask slowly replaces the living with the dead.

Nico Vale is the illegitimate son of a murdered crime lord, raised far from noble courts and blood-soaked inheritance games. He ...