The Shadow and The Flame

At ten, Alain Galaide left home to fight a war that had already killed better soldiers than him. At fifteen, he came back as the Black Knight of the North — a hero to the Empire, a stranger to everyone who knew him first. What he actually did to end that war, he's never told anyone. He never will. Now peace demands something harder than war ever did: rebuilding a broken land, an arranged engagement to a girl guarding a secret that could destroy her, and a prince across the empire who's quietly deciding whether Alain is an ally worth cultivating — or a threat worth neutralizing. A character-driven political fantasy about trauma, loyalty, court intrigue, and the slow, dangerous cost of peace.