Trials of the Heart

Kailan Thornne has always believed in magic-she's just never been allowed to claim it. Raised as a human in a kingdom where the Fae serve as the King's elite soldiers, Kai grew up wishing she were one of them. Every test said she wasn't. Human. Ordinary. Powerless.

Until the day the Seekers arrive.

Thrown into a deadly competition of Strength, Intellect, Loyalty, and Pain, Kai must outwit rivals, outlast monsters, and navigate razor-thin alliances with contestants who want her blood as much as her friendship. But the greatest danger is the one who watches her from the shadows: a mysterious figure whose voice she remembers, but whose name she cannot place.

As memories she doesn't own begin to surface-visions of emerald blades, a storm-crowned realm, and a boy she once trusted-Kai realizes the Trials are not meant to crown a victor. They are meant to wake something inside her.

Something the kingdom fears.

And when the truth begins to unravel-about the curse that binds her, the shadow that follows her, and the bond she never agreed to-Kai must decide who she can trust in a world built on lies...including herself.