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Prologue
Whispers of Emberfall
The storm rolled in with no warning-just a hiss of wind through the skeletal trees lining Emberfall's forgotten edge.
Duncan stood at the cliff's edge, the rain soaking through his expensive coat, cold fingers gripping the obsidian ring on his hand. It pulsed-faintly, like a heartbeat. The same cursed relic that had taken everything from him five years ago.
Money couldn't protect him from this.
Not from the shadows that whispered his name each night.
Not from the fire that bloomed beneath his skin, unbidden and wild.
And certainly not from the prophecy that bound his fate to someone he had yet to meet-the girl of smoke and silence.
They said Emberfall was just an old wives' tale. A place that lived in the spaces between moments, flickering like candlelight at the edge of the modern world. But Duncan had seen it-every time the curse flared, he was pulled closer.
And tonight, it was calling.
Lightning fractured the sky above, and with it, he saw her.
A girl in the distance, standing barefoot in the rain, her hair dancing like embers. No umbrella. No fear. Just those eyes-silver and unblinking, locked onto his like she'd been waiting centuries to find him.
For a second, the world held its breath.
Then she whispered his name-though the wind stole her voice-and vanished into the mist.
The ring flared hot. The ground trembled. And Duncan knew, without question, that his life had just changed.
The girl was real.
And she was the key.
To the curse.
To the fire.
To everything.
But in Emberfall, nothing came without a price.