Description

Four centuries ago, a kingdom fell, a god was sealed beneath the earth, and the last Key-bearer died trying to complete a bond that promised salvation — and delivered ruin.

Astryn has grown up among the shattered remains of that lost world, hiding the starlight in her blood and pretending she is ordinary. She knows the stories. She knows the cost of forbidden magic. And she knows that anyone discovered carrying the Key-bearer bloodline is hunted, tested, and sacrificed in the name of power.

When an ancient obsidian door opens at her touch on the winter solstice, Astryn's secret is exposed. She is the final Key-bearer — the last living soul capable of awakening the celestial guardian whose return could either restore balance to the realm or burn it to ash.

The man who finds her is everything she should fear. Draycen is a shadow-weaving crown prince from the empire built on her homeland's destruction, bound by blood, betrayal, and a legacy of failed gods. He claims the ancient bond can be completed — not alone, but together — and that time is running out before the guardian wakes corrupted and unanchored.

As enemies close in from every side and ancient magic stirs beneath the earth, Astryn is forced into a choice no Key-bearer before her survived. The bond demands sacrifice. Trust invites betrayal. And desire threatens to become the most dangerous force of all.

To save the world, Astryn may have to bind her soul to the very darkness she was taught to fear — and accept that some ruins echo forever, no matter how deeply they are buried.

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