Description

In the city of Verita, the most beautiful truth is a lie.

Ren is the realm's most gifted Weaver, a professional liar paid to mask the crumbling rot of reality with shimmering illusions of silk and marble. In a world powered by deception, she is a queen. But her newest contract is a suicide mission: escort Valen, a disgraced Paladin cursed with Absolute Truth, to the edge of the world.

Valen physically cannot lie. To him, the world is not a paradise of violet skies—it is a horrifying landscape of eldritch monsters and petrified remains. He is a walking breach in the narrative, a man whose very presence shatters the beauty Ren has spent her life perfecting.

As they flee the King's faceless Truth-Seekers, Ren must weave a shroud of lies directly into Valen's mind to keep him from descending into madness. But as the veils begin to thin, she discovers a terrifying secret: the monsters Valen sees are the only real thing left.

Ren must choose: maintain the beautiful, soul-harvesting illusion that protects a million lives, or let the truth shatter civilization to save the one man who can see it.

Perfect for fans of Six of Crows and Howl's Moving Castle, this inverted "Grumpy/Sunshine" fantasy explores the heavy cost of a perfect world.