The Weeping Blade

Kaien Valen was once the shield of the empire, the Queen's favorite captain, and the architect of a massacre that still stains his dreams. After seven years in the wilderness of exile, he returns to Varynth only to find a land choked by the Sanctum's dogma. Here, magic is a birthright for the elite and a death sentence for the poor. When Kaien witnesses the attempted execution of Ryn, a child wielding the forbidden duality of life and death, his path of penance finally finds its purpose. Now a fugitive from the very throne he helped secure, Kaien must lead a ragtag rebellion through a landscape of shifting loyalties and ancient ghosts. But the greatest threat isn't the steel of the Royal Guard; it's the woman holding the hilt. Queen Elyra, the woman Kaien once loved, is determined to strip humanity of its messy free will to ensure a perfect, sterile order. As magic begins to fracture and the world itself starts to bleed, Kaien faces a devastating choice: stay his hand for the love of a tyrant, or break the empire to save its soul. In the war for Varynth, every victory carries a cost, and the blade that weeps for the fallen may be the only thing left to end the cycle of tyranny.