The Chains of Darkness

Thalia has been haunted by vivid nightmares for six months, each one more intense than the last. In these dreams, she is both an observer and a participant, a man named Alexander chained and sentenced by a mysterious council. The strange, lightning-shaped bruises that appear on her skin in the same spots where Alexander is struck in the dreams make Thalia question whether they are just dreams-or something more sinister.

Living a quiet life on the outskirts of a village that grows more desolate by the day, Thalia struggles to support her small, grieving family. Every market day brings a new challenge, but when she returns home to discover that "collection day" has arrived, Thalia's world is upended. Young men are conscripted into battalions, young women sent to serve the mysterious order of the Holy Mother-never to return.

As the shadow wolves of legend begin to emerge from the forest and reality blurs with Thalia's dream-world, she must confront not only her fears but the hidden powers that may be stirring within her. Could the man in her dreams hold the key to understanding her own fate, or will she be consumed by the same forces that seem determined to claim her soul?