The Cinderheart Forge

The hearth had been dying since midnight, and with it, Maren Ashwick's last comfort. Crouched before the soot-blackened stones of her stepmother's kitchen, she feeds the coals what little pine she can steal, unaware that the faint ember she coaxes back to life will mark her as heir to a forbidden legacy. The Cinderheart Forge, a sacred firecraft long buried by the Conclave, stirs in her blood, and soon Maren is running from a Conclave Messenger with answers written in flame. Guided by Old Helwise, the enigmatic Forgewright, and watched over by the spirit Casimir Emberwright, Maren learns the truth: she is an Emberblood, the last in a line the Conclave would rather see extinguished. Reunited with her loyal brother Pip, she allies with Thalia Emberwind's rebels, the Roadwarden, and even the child Rune, a boy touched by the same ancient fire. But the Conclave is led by Judge Brom the Ashborn and Judge Liora Flamecrest, who will unleash the Bonekeeper, the Curse-Spirit, and the first Emberblood Dragon to stop her. As the Hollowkin close in and Scribe Tallis races to record the truth, Maren must master the forge within her before the Conclave silences her, and the fire, forever.