Embers in a Silent Chest

She was sentenced to walk as an empty shell. Now, she is coming to slaughter the King who stole her world.

Once an elite swordswoman trained by the King's most trusted guard, Elara believed in loyalty-until the King traded her sickly little sister to a corrupt noble like livestock. When her mentor betrayed her for royal gold, Elara fled into the freezing night, only to watch her sister die in her arms.

Driven by grief, Elara committed an unforgivable sin, pouring poison into the realm's sacred river. But divine justice was swift. The Goddess of Humanity ripped the heart from Elara's chest, condemning her to immortality without warmth, a hollow torso filled only with a freezing, metallic wind. Her sentence? Perform good deeds to earn back her humanity, or burn for eternity.

But Elara isn't playing by divine rules.

Weaponizing her cold immortality, she begins performing "good deeds" her own way-by ruthlessly dismantling the King's shadow operations from the inside. When she crosses paths with Cassian, the brilliant, level-headed heir of a powerful political family targeted by the Crown, two sworn enemies are forced into an unholy alliance.

Cassian seeks an honorable rebellion to save his people. Elara seeks to put a blade through the King's eye and spit in the face of the Goddess who condemned her.

Redemption is a lie. Vengeance is the only thing beating in the dark.