The Awakening of Pride

Sixteen-year-old Rowan Delaire has never thought of himself as special. But when his name appears on the acceptance list for the Grand Academy of the Seven, his quiet coastal town treats him like a hero bound for greatness. The Academy is said to teach mastery of emotion, turning pride into strength, anger into courage, and desire into power.

Leaving behind his mother and the sea, Rowan expects books, mentors, and a chance to find out who he really is. Instead, he finds rival Houses competing to control the Seven Sins that shape human nature, and a growing unease that something beneath the school is breaking free.

As alliances form and tempers rise, Rowan's lack of any clear "Sin alignment" marks him as both anomaly and threat. To survive the Academy's tests, he must navigate ambition, envy, and friendship while learning that emotion itself can be a weapon, and that balance may be more dangerous than power.