The Unfinished Rite

Velmora was built on a ritual that was never completed.

Centuries ago, a king tried to bury the monster in his blood beneath the cathedral stone. He sealed the chambers. Silenced the priests. Declared the rite unfinished.

But the land remembers what is taken.

Now the bells ring without hands. The marsh in the south creeps closer to the city walls. The mountains burn beneath their snow. And deep below the cathedral, three carved grooves wait for blood.

Aveline has spent her life believing in loyalty, in family, in the quiet safety of the world she was given. Alaric was raised inside its marble walls, taught that control is mercy and power is protection.

Both are wrong.

As old magic stirs and hidden bloodlines begin to surface, the truth about the unfinished rite threatens to unravel the kingdom itself. Royal blood may not be what it seems. Love may be the final key. And some monsters are not born... they are made.

The cathedral doors are sealed.

The stone is warm.

And the bells are counting.