Marked by Mercy

She saves the man the Empire marked for death—then his eyes open, and he recognizes her mark.

Now the crown’s deadliest blade can’t leave her side… and the gods aren’t done with either of them.

Kaelith Rhain is Mercy-marked: a forbidden healer hunted to extinction. She survives in ruined temples, stitching strangers back from the edge—until a wounded assassin collapses on her floor, branded for execution and sworn to kill her kind.

Daren is everything Kaelith should fear. Trained to obey. Built to destroy. Yet the moment her magic touches his blood, an ancient pact wakes—binding healer and killer with a pull neither can cut. If he strays, he bleeds. If she hesitates, the tether burns. And every step they take drags them deeper into cursed hills, lost rites, and a faith the Empire tried to erase.

The Order of Cleansing Flame wants Kaelith as proof that mercy is a sin. Rebels want her as a symbol. The crown wants its weapon back. But the more Kaelith and Daren fight what’s binding them, the more it changes—into something intimate, dangerous, and impossible to deny.

Because mercy without strength is wasted.

And strength without mercy becomes ruin.

In a kingdom built on purges and lies, choosing each other might be the most lethal act of all.