Wren Ashcombe has spent her entire life hiding.
In the war-ravaged border town of Thistlemere, her extraordinary healing gift is a dangerous secret. A gifted healer is valuable. A healer with impossible instincts is something far more dangerous. If the Crown discovers what she truly is, she'll be taken to Ironspire?the legendary mountain fortress where the empire forges its most powerful warriors... and where few ever return unchanged.
When the dreaded royal Sweep arrives, Wren's carefully constructed life shatters.
Dragged from everything she loves and forced into Ironspire's brutal military academy, she must survive deadly trials designed to break both body and spirit. The mountain itself seems alive. Ancient drakes circle storm-wrapped peaks. Noble-born cadets rule from luxurious inner courts while common conscripts are abandoned to mud, hunger, and impossible odds. Every day is a fight to survive.
Her greatest challenge, however, isn't the mountain.
It is War-Marshal Kaelan Vask.
Feared throughout the academy, Vask commands the infamous Cohort of the Damned?a unit haunted by tragedy and whispered to be cursed. Cold, relentless, and burdened by ghosts of soldiers he couldn't save, he believes compassion is a luxury the battlefield cannot afford. Wren believes the opposite.
Their first meeting sparks open defiance.
Their growing respect becomes something far more dangerous.
As impossible trials, deadly storms, ancient magic, and political conspiracies draw them together, Wren's hidden power becomes increasingly difficult to conceal. Every life she saves brings her one step closer to exposing the gift that could change the fate of the kingdom?or make her the empire's most valuable weapon.
But Ironspire has secrets buried far deeper than war.
Something ancient stirs beneath the mountain.
The drakes are changing.
Old prophecies are awakening.
And Wren may be the one person capable of saving a realm already teetering on the edge of ruin.
Ironspire is the first novel in an epic romantasy series filled with unforgettable characters, breathtaking trials, slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance, powerful magic, dragon lore, deadly academy intrigue, and heart-stopping adventure. Perfect for readers who love emotionally rich fantasy, resilient heroines, morally complex heroes, and romances forged in fire.
