Silver Tiers (Sapere #2)

Prologue

As the boy watched his mother drive away, abandoning him to those cruel strangers after he pleaded her not to, he made a vow, deep and resolute—he would never show another emotion again.

Though only four years old, the relentless abuse he'd endured at his mother's hands had forced him to mature far beyond his age. He knew what it meant to shut down, to protect what little was left of himself.

From then on, every time those strangers would try to break him—physically, mentally—he clung to his oath, burying every feeling that dared to surface. Anger. Fear. Despair. Loneliness. And most of all: hopelessness.

He forced it all down, squashing it into a festering pit of darkness.

Years went by. Slowly. Agonizingly.

He became a shell, hardened and impenetrable.

Until one day, the pressure he'd been holding in for so long finally erupted, as sudden and unstoppable as any natural disaster. Rage began pouring out of him like molten lava from a newly awakened volcano—hot, unrelenting, and leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

Then, in the quiet heart of the darkest night, came the unexpected—a man bearing a story, a promise, and with it, a sliver of silver hope.