by L.J. Peters
Some bonds are forged in blood. Some are weaponized. On Bond Day, Liora Vale expects to be sent home unchosen. Her family name is a cautionary tale, her brother's death the academy's favorite lesson in what happens when you fly too close to the edge. Then Scyllax rises. The ancient war dragon hasn't chosen a rider in forty-three years. He chooses Liora in front of the entire Aerie, and the institution's response is immediate: assign the Commandant's own son as her wingmate. The Wingmate Vow is telepathic, absolute, and unbreakable by anything short of death. It means Senior Rider Kade Dray will feel her fear. It means she'll feel what he's hiding. And Kade Dray is hiding everything. His Sear episodes are worsening. The Commandant's grip is tightening. And somewhere in the sealed files beneath the mountain, the truth about Liora's brother's death is buried under reclassification stamps and a decade of managed silence. Kade was there when Kal died. He knows the official story is a lie. He was forced to carry that lie straight into the one bond he can't wall out. When Liora begins uncovering a pattern beneath the academy's polished surface, sabotaged equipment, amplified Sear cases, training configurations engineered to break riders from the inside, every thread leads back to the same man. And the deeper she digs, the more dangerous Kade's silence becomes. Then the Concord Trials arrive, bringing four rival academies and one charming captain from the kingdom of mirrors who noticed Liora's value before he ever set foot on the mountain. The stage is set. The trap is dressed as competition. And the Commandant has scheduled a very public demonstration designed to expose exactly what Liora is. Her brother didn't burn out. He was burned. Now someone wants to see if she will too. Searstruck is an enemies-to-lovers romantasy set in a dragon-rider academy built on blood and buried secrets. Featuring a telepathic forced-proximity bond, slow burn with real teeth, a conspiracy that reaches higher than either of them can afford to look, and two people trying very hard not to need each other before the mountain decides the question for them.
