Captain Kaelen of the Royal Aerial Corps is a man of rigid edges and suppressed fires. Bonded to Ignatia, a twenty-ton Heavyweight incendiary with a penchant for court gossip and romantic meddling, Kaelen has spent a decade burying his forbidden elemental magic beneath a facade of military discipline.

When a Northern diplomat is murdered with a prohibited spell, Kaelen is forced into an uneasy partnership with Elias Thorne, a master thief with a devastating smile and a past written in the shadows of the capital.

As they navigate a labyrinth of political treason involving a dragon-rending siege weapon and a corrupt Council of Lords, the subtext between the soldier and the rogue begins to burn hotter than draconic fire. In a kingdom where the laws are designed to cage the powerful, Kaelen and Elias must decide if they will remain artifacts of a dying order or the architects of a new era.