"How could you concoct that ludicrous tale in a blink of an eye?" Zane asked, one brow arched in amused disbelief. She huffed. "You should be grateful, I think quickly." "Oh, I am," he murmured. "But perhaps next time, a backstory wherein I retain a modicum of dignity?" Aurora smirked. "And rob myself of the entertainment? Where's the fun in that?" Zane shook his head, but his fingers lingered a fraction longer before he released her hand. "I hadn't realised amusement ranked so highly among your values." She narrowed her eyes. "You are growing rather bold, considering I just saved your life." Zane, entirely undeterred, tilted his head with an infuriating smile. "Ah, but my dearest", he murmured, stepping closer, "perhaps you saved me because you cannot bear to be without me." She responded with all the grace and dignity of a woman at her wit's end-by clamping a hand over his face and shoving him away with such force that he staggered back, laughter spilling from his lips. "Gah! You are intolerable!" Aurora exhaled sharply, straightening her sleeves as though the mere act of touching him had somehow wrinkled them. *************************** Bound by duty. Shackled by honour. Tormented by feeling. Aurora lives a life shaped by steel and sacrifice. As a knight sworn to her realm, she's loyal, lethal, and alone-unshaken in battle, but increasingly undone in his presence. Zane is a problem: disciplined yet reckless, distant yet always too close. He never asks, never reveals-yet somehow sees straight through her. When a mission draws them deep into peril, forced side by side, what once was teasing sharpens into tension. In stolen glances and moonlit silence, desire simmers beneath duty, and silence becomes the loudest agony of all. As truths unravel and enemies close in, the real question isn't whether they can trust each other... It's whether they can afford not to. Written: March 2025- Ongoing

[ BOOK 1 OF AZITERA: YTHER'S QUEEN ] Consumed by avarice, the four human kingdoms-the Infernal Empire, the Kingdom of Caelum, the Kingdom of Treterra, and the Nayale Archipelago-betrayed their covenant with Yther of Azitera, the race blessed by deities, who protected humans for untold centuries. They slaughtered and defiled the beings that once protected them from storm, famine, poverty, and pestilence without mercy. Betrayed by the humans they protected, the Ytherians were enslaved. Their four queens were caged, chained, and imprisoned to serve as nutrients to the human kingdoms. The once prominent Ytherians were reduced to nothing but servants. As the four kingdoms of the human race prospered for many years since their betrayal, one news staggered them, causing them to tremble in fear and rally their armies to protect and defend their domain: Sollel-the Mistress of Flame, one of Yther's queens-had escaped her prison. Her flames will raze hell, ready to burn the souls of her betrayers. COMPLETED CECELIB | C.C. COVER: ASTRID JAYDEE