A Requiem for Fallen Stars (Cadence of the Fallen Book 1)

Lyra Izacalli buries her painful past deep within herself, believing that feeling emotion gives power to grief and memory. She refuses to let nobles and kings wound her, viewing emotional invulnerability as her path to freedom—though she feels anything but free. When an unexpected opportunity emerges, Lyra enters the deadly entrance exams of an elite academy where only nobility typically succeed. First, she must strike a blood wager with a capricious king, a gamble that could grant her freedom or cost her life—if the exams don't kill her first. Inside the academy, Lyra encounters a world that rejects her, a forgotten journal that will redefine her understanding, a band of dangerous wielders who hunt her, and a mentor who was meant to be nothing more—someone who threatens to unravel her carefully constructed walls. As truths emerge and her defenses fracture, Lyra discovers that a girl who refuses to lose does not break; she erupts. This fantasy romance features high-stakes trials, forgotten knowledge, and explores themes of power, freedom, found family, and romance amid political intrigue and slow-burning tension.