The Alchemist of Souls

The Alchemist of Souls
A Soul Contract Novel
To reclaim her stolen heart, she must destroy the man who carries it.

She was forged to feel nothing. He was built to obey everything.

Their love was never part of the design.

Xuan Bing was once the crown princess of a fallen kingdom. On the night her nation burned, her father-a brilliant and broken soul-alchemist-carved the ability to love and fear straight out of her soul, leaving behind a cold, perfect weapon with a single purpose: reclaim the stolen throne.

Yin Chen was never human to begin with. He is a masterpiece of forbidden alchemy, a living weapon assembled from the finest soul-essences the empire could harvest. Into his chest, his creators poured absolute loyalty, unrivaled strength, and a boundless, programmed love for the imperial family that built him.

But they never told him where that love truly came from.

When their paths collide at a soulforce ceremony, neither understands the pull between them. Xuan Bing, who has felt nothing for twenty-three years, suddenly finds her deadened soul stirring at the sight of him. Yin Chen, whose every action should be dictated by command, begins to glitch-his perfect programming stalling every time she draws near.

What she discovers will shatter them both.

The radiant, golden love sealed inside Yin Chen's chest is not artificial. It was never manufactured.

It is hers.

Carved from her own soul twenty-three years ago and locked inside an enemy weapon, it has been calling to her across the silence ever since-

Tap, tap, tap. Like water beneath ice. Never giving up.

To reclaim what was stolen and become whole again, Xuan Bing must do the unthinkable: destroy the vessel that holds her love.

But the weapon is no longer just a weapon. He is becoming something else. Something his creators never intended. Something that looks at her with eyes that hold not programming, but the first flicker of a choice.

And the love she came to retrieve is no longer just hers. It has