Book One in the Fallen Star Trilogy✨✨✨ In the Solkarra Empire, obedience is survival. Farren is a rising captain in the imperial army, she has spent a lifetime serving a crown built on cruelty while quietly resisting it wherever she could. Until the night her father the High War General binds her future to the empire's future heir, Prince Lysander. So Farren makes a choice and creates a plan. She flees the capital with Kiran, her childhood friend and safest constant, and Riven, a trusted ally with sharp instincts and sharper secrets. Together, they vanish into the fractures of Kalwynn, a continent rotting beneath Solkarra's rule and the slow poison of black magic the empire denies exists. The crown sends her twin brother, Emrsy, after her. Their journey finally carries them to Luarnaris, the once-great city of the Thalari Fae, now reduced to ash and shattered stone. There, amid the wreckage of empire, they cross paths with a shadow wielder bound to secrets older than the throne itself one whose presence unsettles the magic in Farren's blood and draws a line of tension Kiran feels immediately. From that moment on, nothing remains simple. As the truth of Solkarra's corruption surfaces, Farren's magic begins to changewind sharpening into something ancient and star-touched. At the same time, the careful distance she once kept from Kiran unravels, childhood loyalty igniting into a love forged under fire, fear, and impossible choices. To restore balance, Farren must face the empire that shaped her, the brother sent to retrieve her, and the truth of who she is becoming and who she is falling for before the black magic consuming the land claims everything she loves. Because the darkness is already here.

It doesn't matter how she ended up in this four-walled room. What matters is she gets out. ***** After a night out in New York City, Liliana Rossi wakes up in a windowless room with no recollection of how she got there. And she's not alone. The dark and tattooed Mateo Aguilar is also held captive. As the two struggle to survive and hatch an escape plan, they also struggle with growing attraction toward each other, facing Lili with the biggest question yet: is Mateo the reason she's here, or the one who's going to save her? ✨ Wattys 2018 Shortlist & Featured Story ✨ Content warning: this story references themes that readers might find triggering, including drug use and sexual assault. [[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]] Cover designed by Stefanie Saw