Brand of Dusk (The Echoes of Vaelor #1)

Every scar tells a story. Selene’s screams a warning.

For twenty years, Detective Selene Rowan lived a lie, convinced her weak magic was a defect.

But when a brutal force tears through Ravenholt, draining the city’s magical population, the seal beneath her scar fractures. It releases a terrifying power that paints a target on her back.

Ravenholt stands as a powder keg; the match is lit. To survive, Selene must outwit the Highspire elite—a society of marble halls and bloody secrets.

Her only guide is Riven Ashborne, a lethal enforcer representing everything she hates.

Untrustworthy and skilled, Riven claims he wants to stop the carnage, but his motives are as dark as his reputation.

Bound by a volatile alliance, they investigate a string of magical murders, tracking a killer harvesting power for a catastrophic ritual that could unmake the world.

In a city built on deception, truth strikes as the most lethal weapon of all. Selene discovers her entire life has been preparation for a war she never asked to fight.