Overview

Before the Road Began

Welcome to Starfall Banners.

The Radiant King’s Consort: Before the Road Began is the prequel: the origin of Crispin and Gideon, the first Accord they write together, and the moment the road stops being an escape and becomes a calling.

You can read this first (to start at the beginning) or anytime (to return to the foundation after you’ve traveled the road with them).

A quick heads-up: this series includes high-heat intimacy, negotiated, consensual non-monogamy, and a central relationship built on trust, truth, and return. There’s no cheating between the partners in the Accord. Everything is chosen, discussed, and consented to.

If you’ve already read the main books, welcome back to where it all started.

If this is your first time here: welcome home.
— Baert Ochs

Before the road. Before the stars. Before love learned how to last.

I’m summoned to the Radiant Court by a dying king who claims I’m meant to carry a magic older than kingdoms. A Banner-Bearer. A wanderer who walks between worlds, collecting connections that leave their mark.

I think he’s wrong.

I’m just a charming drifter with a dead brother, a talent for running, and no intention of staying anywhere long enough to hurt.

Then I meet Gideon.

He’s the king’s scribe. Brilliant. Guarded. Wounded by a man who promised to return and never did. And somehow, impossibly, he’s meant to be my anchor—the one person who can hold the thread while I walk the road.

The problem?

The road doesn’t believe in monogamy. And Gideon doesn’t believe in men who leave.

So we negotiate something dangerous instead.

An Accord. Rules for love that allow desire, demand honesty, and make return non-negotiable. A bond built on truth, consent, and choosing each other again and again.

This is a high-heat MM fantasy romance about grief, chosen family, and learning that staying can be braver than leaving.

This is where the constellation begins.

The Radiant King’s Consort is a CNM-positive, emotionally grounded prequel to the Starfall Banners series. It can be read first or as a return to the beginning.