The Understudy Crown of Varrow Pass

Winter, 1611. The old king of Esterlund is dead, two cousins claim the throne, and the snowbound border fortress of Varrow Pass is choking with soldiers. The Lantern Wagon Players, nine actors in four painted wagons, are hired to perform the coronation masque for whichever claimant wins the council vote in twelve nights. Mirela Dusk, 29, is their prompter and costume-mender. She is sharp-tongued, ink-stained and forgettable, and she has spent her life hiding in the wings. Her goal is to keep the troupe alive and paid through the winter. Then a dying courier stumbles into the props wagon and stuffs a sealed proclamation into a stage crown. Each faction now believes the players are spies. Prince Aurel's spymaster, the genial Lord Teodor Vass, 52, and Duchess Ilse's ruthless captain, Brannoc Hale, 38, each offer the troupe protection in exchange for betraying the other. Mirela survives by rewriting the masque nightly, smuggling coded warnings to both camps through comic songs. Every win costs her something: her best actor's freedom, her forged name, her friendship with troupe-master Gregor. The hook is the proclamation itself. It names the true heir, and if it is read aloud, a civil war begins on the playhouse stage.