Every Cinder in Cyr Veyr bowed to her. Except the one bound to him.Merren is an ash-medic who trusts evidence, not gods. She comes to the capital searching for the cause of a deadly pattern among patients and bonded Cinders. Instead, she becomes the center of an impossible event—and a threat to every institution built on controlling the bond.Commander Kael Veyr has spent his life enforcing the Crown’s order. Now he must contain Merren, protect her from the Church, and confr...