Rowan Blackthorn is supposed to die at the gallows. Elowen is supposed to pray for his soul and walk away. She is a cleric of Astraea, bound to an Order that claims to serve justice, while Rowan is a thief whose crimes have made him both outlaw and folk hero. Their paths should cross for only a few final minutes. Instead, his last rite becomes the first crack in everything Elowen believes. Rowan's execution is tangled in forces far larger than one condemned man. Old gods stir where their names are barely spoken, the Order hides secrets behind sacred authority, and Elowen begins to see how easily devotion can be used to excuse cruelty. Rowan has survived by trusting no institution and very few people. Elowen has survived by placing faith above herself. Forced into the same dangerous current, they challenge each other at every turn. He sees the woman beneath the robes. She sees the conscience beneath the thief's reputation. Attraction grows where certainty once lived. So does danger. The deeper they move into the truth, the clearer it becomes that Luminara's problems cannot be solved by saving one life. Power is being taken from those who cannot fight back, rebellion is gathering at the edges, and Elowen may possess a gift the Order needs more than she understands. Rowan has spent his life stealing from the powerful. Now he may have to help steal an entire future back. But if Elowen chooses him, she risks more than her vows. She risks becoming an enemy of the only world she has ever known, and discovering whether faith survives when the people who speak for the gods no longer deserve it.
Rowan Blackthorn is supposed to die at the gallows. Elowen is supposed to pray for his soul and walk away. She is a cleric of Astraea, bound to an Order that claims to serve justice, while Rowan is a thief whose crimes have made him both outlaw and folk hero. Their paths should cross for only a f...