A Requiem for Gilded Ash

In the gilded halls of Ostrova’s Imperial Lyceum, all I ever wanted was a quiet life of forgotten histories and afternoon naps. As Bogdana Rostova, a disgraced academic with a penchant for idleness, my greatest ambition was avoiding my tutors. But an ordinary morning shatters when imperial inquisitors storm my rooms. My secret is out: I am a Wskrzesa, one with the forbidden power to command life and death, and my little brother, Kazimir, is their leverage. Forced on the run, my only protector is the man sent to capture me - Damir Kovačić, the Emperor's most ruthless enforcer and the scion of a house that ruined my own. He sees me as a tool, the key to assembling the Osseous Mandate, the sacred relics of a dead god that promise ultimate power. To save Kazimir, I have no choice but to play along, using my sharp mind to outwit our pursuers at every turn. But as the lines between captor and protector blur amidst shared danger and stolen glances, I begin to suspect the truth. What if the prophecy isn't about saving the world, but about damning it? And what if the divine power I’m being forced to claim is not a reward, but the mechanism of an eternal trap?