Astra grew up surrounded by the ruins of everything her people once were. The Scorched Clan has been reduced to a handful of survivors, its history torn from old books, its magic fading, and its future balanced on choices no one prepared her to make. When Astra and her brother Kael leave the safety of their broken home in search of a tribe willing to help them survive, the world beyond the desert proves far larger and more dangerous than either imagined. Elemental clans guard old grudges, oceans hide powers Astra fears, and every new alliance forces her to question the suspicion that has kept her alive for years. Rowan of the Gust Tribe should be only another stranger whose kindness she cannot afford to trust. Instead, his steadiness begins to challenge the walls Astra has built around herself, especially when the journey turns deadly and the secrets surrounding her clan become harder to ignore. Someone has hidden pieces of the past, and discovering why may matter as much as finding a place for the Scorched to belong. With danger following them across hostile lands and old betrayals threatening to repeat themselves, Astra must decide whether survival means protecting what remains or risking it on the possibility of something new. Her clan's last embers are still burning, but if she cannot learn which allies are real before the next betrayal strikes, there may be nothing left to carry forward.
Astra grew up surrounded by the ruins of everything her people once were. The Scorched Clan has been reduced to a handful of survivors, its history torn from old books, its magic fading, and its future balanced on choices no one prepared her to make. When Astra and her brother Kael leave the safe...