The Red Fox Clan

Maddie is the heir to the throne of Araluen and, against every precedent, an apprentice Ranger. The Red Fox Clan has emerged — a masked order claiming descent from a pre-Araluen dynasty — and they have an old law on their side that says a female heir cannot inherit. Maddie is the exception they need to eliminate, and Will is the one standing in their way.

The Red Fox Clan is the first book of the Royal Ranger spinoff and the direct continuation of main-series book 12. It sets up the political arc — dynastic legitimacy, succession, and a conspiracy inside the nobility — that runs through the next several books.