The Ember Beneath Her Skin

A flickering precinct light is the least of Detective Maren Caldwell's problems when a string of victims is found frozen from the inside out, their final breaths crystallized on their lips. The cases have no forensic answer, only the smell of burning roses and the symbol of The Thorned Lady carved into each crime scene. When her investigation crosses paths with Julian Vargas, a man hunted by both the Conclave of Three and The Ashen Court for crimes he cannot remember committing, Maren uncovers a truth the department is not equipped to contain. Julian is bound to The Ember, a primordial flame that marks him as either a vessel or a weapon, and somewhere in the city's shadows, Severin is collecting embers of his own. Councilman Marcus Bell offers protection at a price Maren cannot afford to pay. Dr. Renee Akande believes Julian can be saved, if Maren is willing to trade what burns inside her. Silas Thorne watches from the edges of both worlds, waiting for a reckoning older than the city. As The Conclave moves to ignite a war that will consume the innocent alongside the guilty, Maren learns that the fire she has carried since childhood is no gift. It is a claim. To expose Severin and protect Julian, she will have to let something far older and far hungrier burn through her, and trust that what rises from the ashes still remembers her name.