The Ember Beneath the Mountain

For years, Aldric Vance has asked nothing of the world beyond the steady ring of his father's anvil and the quiet of Ashenmoor's cold mornings. He shapes steel, tends the forge, and refuses to look too closely at the shadows gathering in the high passes. But when the mountain shudders and a vein of molten red splits open on its flank, the silence ends. Seams of fire that should have stayed buried begin to bleed upward through the rock, burning crops and unsettling every elder who remembers the old stories. Brennan Vance, Aldric's restless brother, drags him toward the truth, while Maeve Rowan insists the tremors are no natural thing. Elder Carrick warns of a pact broken long ago, and whispers reach Ashenmoor of a name the Drust sisters will not speak aloud: Caelith Veyr, and the malachai who waits beneath the stone. Torn between the life he has built and a fire calling his name, Aldric is offered a single, terrible choice. The ember beneath the world is waking, and whether it brings salvation or ash will depend on the hand that dares to hold it.