An Ember in the Ashes

Laia is a slave and Elias is a soldier—neither is free under the Martial Empire, where defiance brings death and dissent risks the execution of loved ones. Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother in the Empire's impoverished backstreets, keeping their heads down. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia faces an impossible choice: she agrees to spy for rebels from within the Empire's greatest military academy in exchange for their help rescuing him. At the academy, Laia meets Elias, the school's finest soldier and secretly its most reluctant. Elias yearns to escape the tyranny he is being trained to enforce. As their paths cross, Laia and Elias discover their destinies are connected—and that their decisions will reshape the fate of the Empire itself. Set in a brutal world inspired by ancient Rome, this novel explores what it means to be human in the face of oppression and fear.