For three hundred years, the kingdom of Aurelia has worshipped one thing above all else: the Gift. When every child turns eighteen, they stand before the Ember Shrine, where a flame said to be blessed by the gods reveals a unique ability. Some command storms. Others bend metal, heal wounds, or weave illusions. The stronger the Gift, the higher your place in society. Those who receive no Gift are called Ashborn. The priests teach that the gods rejected them before birth. By law, Ashborn cannot own land, carry weapons, attend school, or live within the capital’s walls. Most disappear into the forgotten villages beyond the mountains, where no one speaks their names. But rumors whisper that the Ashborn were never abandoned. They were hidden. Because centuries ago, before the kingdom rewrote its history, there existed a power greater than every Gift combined—a power the royal family nearly destroyed. Now the kingdom stands on the edge of unrest. The elderly king is dying. The four heirs compete to prove who deserves the throne. The temples grow richer. The borders grow restless. And somewhere beneath the marble streets of Aurelia, a rebellion prepares to ignite. No one realizes the one person capable of changing the kingdom has spent her entire life pretending to be invisible. Because you are a Ashborn. The bells of Aurelia rang before sunrise. Festival Day. You pulled your hood lower as you slipped through the crowded market, weaving between merchants and nobles. You reached for a wealthy stranger’s coin purse. His hand caught your wrist before you could disappear. “You’ll have to be quicker than that,” he said with a grin. You looked up in surprise and realized that you’d just tried and failed to rob one of the four heirs to the throne.