Stark
Submitted to Editor June 2025.
"A healer, a trades-keeper, a university drop-out engineer, and me, an aimless wanderer with a blocked memory and a past full of secrets and lies. We were an odd collection of lost souls on a foolish mission to dismantle the empire and unite the nations. Who were we to have the audacity? Our chances were as bleak as this stark planet—but I wouldn't want to take the risk with anyone else." —from Stark
On the tidally locked planet of Cyfnos, the nation of Illyria burns under an endless sun, and the nation of Isfrid lies frozen in permanent night. But in the twilight City of Veil, all the secrets are hidden.
M'ber has only ever known the desert nation and the story of how her aunt saved her after her parents' deaths. The only problem is, someone has blocked her memory. When she crosses the veil into the tundra, she discovers the truth: she's not an orphan. Her parents are alive in the twilight city.
Joined by her friends—Elio, desperate to rescue an enslaved brother; Stellan, hungry for revenge; and Apricity, seeking an imprisoned father—M'ber's quiet quest for identity becomes a conspiracy of blood and memory, a rebellion to free the people of Cyfnos, and the impossible risk of falling for two people who might break her.
But the closer she gets to the castle, the closer she gets to a truth her aunt has spent years burying. The Empress isn't the only one hiding secrets. And M'ber's past isn't just lost.
It's waiting for her.
Stark Mood Board
Sneak Peek at Stark
