by Ana Cross
The world is dying. Aurelia has spent ten years believing she's ordinary—a human girl with strange nightmares and an unshakable instinct to protect the only family she's ever known. Then the Centennial Trials choose her. Dragged into a deadly competition between immortal courts, Aurelia enters a realm of ancient magic, ruthless kings, and secrets older than memory itself. Every trial is designed to break her. Every rival expects her to fail. Instead, impossible things happen whenever she's near. Broken magic steadies. Cracks in reality mend. And powerful rulers begin watching her with growing unease. Especially the king cloaked in living shadows. As the trials turn bloodier and the barriers between worlds begin to fracture, Aurelia finds herself hunted by forces that seem to know exactly who she is—while she remains trapped in the dark about her own past. Because something was stolen long ago. Something powerful enough to reshape worlds. Something that should have remained forgotten. And as buried truths claw their way back into the light, Aurelia is forced to confront a terrifying possibility: She was never meant to survive the night everything changed. Perfect for readers who love slow-burn fantasy romance, deadly trials, ancient mysteries, powerful heroines, and dangerously irresistible shadow kings.
