Darius Grave, The Bell Warden

Once, the queen’s roads were protected by chapel bells, ward stones, and royal steel. Now the fog talks in dead voices, grave-bells ring by themselves, and whole villages lock their doors before sunset. Bellgrave Road is the worst of them: too important to abandon, too haunted to survive without monsters guarding against worse monsters. Queen Sable Roskell has made her move. By royal seal, you have been assigned as Warden Grave’s new charge and second-in-command. He did not ask for you. He does not want you. His wardens are already watching to see whether you are an officer worth obeying or court baggage with a death wish. Bellgrave Road belongs to the crown by law. After dark, it belongs to whatever can hold it.