The Name on Her Breath

Detective Kirian Volkov lives for one reason: to protect his younger sister, Polina. His career is a means to that end, and his latest assignment - a cold case at the infamous Sobol Estate - is just another job. That is, until he steps inside and a voice blossoms in his mind: clear, insistent, and belonging to Nadya Sobol, the spirit bound to the house she died in. Nadya, a guardian tethered to her ancestral home, sees Kirian as a threat, another outsider poking at wounds better left alone. Their mental proximity becomes a battleground of whispered arguments and conflicting goals. Yet, as Kirian’s innate kindness chips away at her ghostly defenses, a fragile trust forms, blossoming into an impossible love. But as they piece together the clues of Nadya’s murder, they uncover a terrifying truth about an identity swap that protected the true target of a malevolent entity. Now, the ghost Kirian loves is not who he thinks she is, and the real Nadya is still alive, still in danger. Can Kirian solve a murder for a woman who never died to save the one he can never touch?