by Corben_Davies16
In a world where excellence is punished and mediocrity rewarded, one woman's desperate need for validation will become winter's greatest weapon. Lyraiel Frostwhisper has failed six times to become Winter Champion. At 437 years old, she is the most skilled candidate the Winter Court has ever seen—and the most overlooked. While her "sisters"—the Spring, Summer, and Autumn Champions—rise to power through political charm and palatability, Lyraiel's raw talent and intensity mark her as dangerous. Concerning. Obsessive. When her seventh attempt ends not in triumph but public humiliation—watching a candidate barely two centuries old claim the position she's bled for—something inside Lyraiel shatters. The whispers find her in the frozen woods. Three ancient queens, imprisoned for centuries, freed and hungry for revenge. They see what the councils never could: not a woman to be pitied, but a weapon to be wielded. They offer her everything she's ever wanted—recognition, power, purpose. All it costs is everything she used to be.
