A Kingdom of Sun, A King of Ice, and The Lie that Bound Them

Can the Warden truly love? Or am I just the latest battery meant to power his frozen throne?

I’m a Sun-Key in a kingdom of liars. When the High Alchemists choose me as the next Tithe, I’m told it’s an honor to save my people from the cold.

They tell me I’m just a vessel, and that my only job is to let the Winter King drain my light until I’m empty. They forgot to mention that the man behind the frost is a hollowed-out soul looking for a reason to breathe—or that I’d risk the world just to feel his bare skin against mine.

My mountain needs a sacrifice, and so I take.

Every thirty years I take, and I destroy. Every thirty years, I watch another girl turn to glass because of the silver rot in my veins.

This endless contract is a cage meant to punish me for a war I never started, with no hope of a thaw. As the Warden of the North, I am the monster that keeps the sun shining in the South.

Until a girl with fire in her eyes refuses to break.

The ice is melting, the secrets are bleeding, and the throne is up for grabs.