For nearly a century, enchantment has been absent from Wonderland, ever since a betrayal shattered the rule of its witch-queens and left the realm governed by order alone. Now Queen Izabella Hart rules with dignity, precision, and an unwavering devotion to stability. Her eldest daughter, Lavinia, is ready to inherit the throne.
But power rarely passes peacefully.
Aurelia Hart, the youngest princess, feels a forbidden tremor stirring beneath her skin, the return of a dangerous empathic magic long thought extinct. Its awakening places her at odds with the crown she is sworn to serve, and marks her as a liability in a kingdom that fears what it cannot control.
As unrest spreads beyond the palace walls, caravans vanish and merchants disappear. A string of bold robberies is swiftly blamed on the Loons, a persecuted outcast people used for generations as convenient scapegoats. But Sergeant O’Hare of the Iron Root Battalion has witnessed too many sanctioned lies to accept the official story. Defying his superiors, he follows a trail of corruption that leads not to rebels in the streets, but to the highest ranks of Wonderland’s military command.
As O’Hare closes in on the truth and Aurelia’s power grows harder to conceal, their fates begin to converge. Loyalties fracture. Old injustices surface. And beneath the Queendom’s careful order, something long buried begins to stir.
Magic is returning to Wonderland.
And this time, it will not be controlled.
Perfect for readers of The Goblin Emperor, Red Queen, and The Thief, The Crown and the Card is an epic, dark political fantasy where empathy is dangerous, justice is contested, and truth itself is an act of rebellion.
