The Thornbound Oath

When Mirra Ashvale wakes in the ashes of her village with no memory of how she survived, a single clue remains: a living thorn-vine coiled around her wrist, pulsing with a power older than the realm itself. Warden Selka Orin recognizes the mark, an oath she swore centuries ago to a god now bound in chains, and offers Mirra a terrible choice: help cage the Bound God once more, or watch him rise. Their uneasy alliance draws Caelen Duskbane, an exiled knight whose family died enforcing a similar oath, and Scout Petra Halen, whose loyalty is bound by secrets of her own. A masked scholar stalks them across ruined roads, demanding the return of something Mirra cannot remember losing. As the thorn-vine spreads through villages, whispering names of the dead, Mirra begins to hear echoes of a grandmother who died before her birth, guides who may be gods, memories, or both. Each answer uncovers a deeper betrayal. When the Bound God finally appears in disguise among them, Mirra must decide whether to renew an oath that cost her everything, or break it and damn a world that has already begun to burn. Some promises are written in blood. Hers is written in thorns.