by Selva Karthikeyan
In the Accorded Realms, magic isn't free. Every spell leaves a receipt. Every life has a price. Thirteen-year-old Jasper Darkmoor knows his father died in an accident at the Scrivener's Guild. What he doesn't know is that "accident" is a lie—and the truth is buried in a black glass box in his attic. When Jasper opens the box, red ink floats in the air. It shows him the real record: his father's life was used to balance a hidden debt for the immortal House Aethel. A rounding error. A line item. A murder no one noticed. Now Jasper sees what others can't—the ledger of stolen lives, the crimson marks of unpaid debts crawling toward his heart. Hunted by Void Auditors and hunted by the golden lords of the Spire, he escapes to the only place that might protect him. The Knotted Ledger Academy. A living school of petrified trees, whispering books, and secrets sealed for five hundred years. There, Jasper discovers he is Unbound—one of the rare few who can trace hidden debts back to their source. His only allies: a disgraced heiress who severed her own bloodline, and a half-folk boy whose father was collected for less than a single Ore. The Midwinter Conclave approaches. Lord Elian Aethel will perform his Purification Rite. And Jasper must decide: expose the lie, or pay the ultimate debt with his own life. Every truth demands a cost. Every debt leaves a mark.
