On her 21st birthday, Eira Thorne’s hidden mark awakens—and the first thing it does is murder a man.

When the silver crescent brand on her wrist flares to life in a burst of lethal starlight, Eira becomes the prime target of:  
The Shadow King’s Hunters, who carve out magic-users’ hearts.  
The Forgotten, monstrous beings who whisper that her blood *belongs* to them.  
Something worse—the parasitic voice in her head that claims it’s her true soul.  

Her only ally is Kaelan Dain, a lethally charming Shadowmancer with a debt to the king. But as bodies pile up and Eira’s visions reveal fragments of a past that can’t be hers, she realizes:  

She’s not the hunter. She’s the sacrifice. 



CORE THRILLS:
 A MAGIC THAT REMEMBERS WHAT SHE FORGOT 
Eira’s power isn’t just awakening—it’s rewriting her. The more she uses it, the more she loses herself to visions of a celestial massacre she couldn’t have witnessed… because it happened 200 years ago.  

A LOVER WHO MIGHT BE THE KILLER
Kaelan’s shadows hide brutal truths: his "cursed brother" is actually the Shadow King, and his mission was never to save Eira—it was to deliver her to the slaughter. But the way he looks at her now? That’s not part of the plan.  

 THE FORGOTTEN’S GAME
The creatures stalking Eira aren’t mindless monsters. They’re fallen gods, and they’ve been waiting for her. Their taunts crawl under her skin:  
"You didn’t escape us, little light. We let you go."
 A HEART THAT ISN’T A WEAPON—IT’S A TRAP 
The ancient crystal called the Heart of Vaelis offers the power to destroy the Forgotten… but using it comes with a sickening twist (think Annihilation’s psychological horror meets The Cruel Prince’s bargains).

The throne sang in a voice made of **broken things**—shattered glass and dying gasps and the wet crack of bones resetting.  


She lurched upright, fingers scrambling for the dagger under her pillow. Kaelan slept beside her, his shadows unusually still, his new scars from the coronation glowing faintly in the dark.  


*"Come see what you've made,"* it crooned in a melody that was *almost* hers.  


Cold air slithered up Eira's bare legs as she approached the throne. It looked different tonight—less like absence, more like **liquid mercury**, its surface rippling with half-formed shapes.  


A hand burst from the silver pool, then an arm, then—  


Pale as moonlight, naked except for the crown fused to *her* brow, the other Eira smiled with all her teeth.  


Behind them, the real throne **screamed** a perfect high C.  


Kaelan arrived just as the doppelgänger lunged.  


His shadows pinned it—*her*—against the wall, but the creature only laughed, its voice harmonizing with the throne's song.  


*"He didn't tell you?"* it whispered. *"Your precious king visited last night. Asked the throne... questions."*  


Eira's gaze snapped to Kaelan. His face had gone deathly pale.  


The thing wearing her skin answered for him:  


*"He asked how to unbind your crowns. And the throne *showed him*."*  


For the first time since their bonding, when she reached for Kaelan's power, **nothing answered**. Only pain, white-hot and splintering, as if her veins had been packed with glass.  


The doppelgänger sighed happily. *"Oh. It's starting."*  


### **Teaser for Chapter 2: The Pale Prince's Gambit**  


*The Eclipse Court is under siege—not by armies, but by mirrors.*  


*Every reflective surface births a new horror.*  


Chapter 20 - THE SHADOW AND THE STARLIGHT: A CROWN OF ECHOES