Dakota Delos Reyes is a genius inventor, a man hailed for his revolutionary machines designed to push humanity beyond its limits. But behind the acclaim lies a haunting secret: his brother has been in a coma for 12 years, and no invention has been able to save him. Until now. Driven to the edge of obsession, Dakota creates a machine unlike anything the world has seen-one capable of bridging consciousness. But his experiment fails, leaving him emotionally hollow, his humanity a shadow of what it once was. With time running out, Dakota turns to the unlikeliest of hopes: Mysty, an enigmatic woman with a fascination for the color purple and a mind he can't quite decode. Mysty might be the answer he's been searching for-or she could unravel everything. As their paths intertwine, questions emerge: What secrets is Dakota hiding about his machine? Why does Mysty seem connected to his brother's fate? And how far will he go before he loses himself completely? In Fret Quartered Heart, nothing is as it seems, and the truth is more dangerous than Dakota ever imagined. ========= Plagiarism is a crime.