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Cerani is supposed to die quietly under the endless dust of Teria, a tired widow with soil-stained hands. Instead, she is stolen from the only home she knows and sent to a hellish mine on a red, burning moon where most people’s lungs wither—except hers. Something in the air feeds her, eases her aches, and sharpens her thoughts. Cerani grows stronger even as the others wilt, and she cannot ignore that. She confronts Stavian, the Controller, a Zaruxian male who should be her enemy. Instead, she is drawn to his guarded eyes and the guilt lingering behind them. He should be just another Axis warden, but she senses a part of him fighting to break free—and against every instinct, her heart sees him not as the enemy… but as someone she might need to trust.
Stavian never asked for this—this position, this power, and especially not this female. The rules are simple: extract the crystals, crush rebellion, and never step outside the Axis creed. But when Cerani walks into his control station, wild-eyed and full of fire that the mine air cannot dim, everything inside him shifts. Cerani sees the rot at the heart of what he has dedicated his life to, and instead of recoiling, she challenges it—challenges him. Her defiance should be a threat, but when the mine caves in and lives hang in the balance, he finds himself at the blade’s edge between duty and conscience. Even as the whispers of rebellion thunder louder every cycle, her voice is the clearest. Saving her—and the others—means betraying everything he has ever known. But losing her might be the one thing he cannot survive.
