Catching Pathways by Danielle Berggren

A crown is always heavy, or it is not a crown.
Maeve Almeida thought she left other worlds behind her fifteen years ago. Back when she crowned her friend Sebastian as the new high king of the Five Realms. After years passed, Maeve put her memories on paper, telling tales of her travels as a teen and young adult in the fantasy world she once called home. To her surprise, the books gained a moderate cult following, were adapted to film, and she soon found herself a C-list celebrity with a wide audience.
Now, at a convention in downtown L.A., Maeve sees someone who may as well have walked straight out of her books. Or out of her memories.
Rodan, a Fae noble and former king of the Five Realms, has been searching for Maeve for almost fifty years, traveling from world to world. Fueled by simple revenge at first, as the years passed and he saw what became of his beloved kingdom, his search became one of desperation. When he does find her at last, he is thankful to see only fifteen years have passed on her world, and that she is still the strong and vibrant woman he remembers.

The woman he once offered everything.
Once enemies, Rodan hopes to unite the two of them for a singular purpose: the saving of the Realms. Pulling Maeve back into that world, Rodan reveals to her the truth; that the friend she once revered has turned into a mad king.
The path to saving the Realms lays in challenging Sebastian for the throne. Rodan has wanted nothing more than to take back the empire that he built. With Maeve at his side, guiding and helping him with her magic as she once did for her friend, he believes that they will be unstoppable.
The trials for the throne reveal a world struggling to recover from years of persecution and neglect, but there are more difficulties in store for the duo. Rodan and Maeve must use their combined skills and knowledge against threats from all levels.
While Maeve reels from Sebastian’s betrayal and mourns the loss of a friendship she thought was set in stone, her heart is pulled in many directions. One of which she never saw coming.