The Saint of Soot and Cinder

Kaven Volkov was the pride of the Vodyan Technomantic Institute, until his own brilliance left him crippled and his career in ruins. His only path back is a deal with the devil: Zorina Rostova, the 'Soot Saint', a reviled state enforcer whose Cinder-born power is blamed for every disaster in the smog-choked city of Veridsk. Forced to become her aide, Kaven is certain she's the monster everyone claims. He sees only a cold, ruthless woman who wields her destructive ability without remorse. But as he works by her side, he glimpses the truth beneath the ash - a calculated plan to dismantle a corrupt system from within and quiet, desperate acts of unregistered kindness. Kaven finds himself becoming the sole defender of the woman who ruined his life, caught between the city's powerful elite and the ticking clock of her volatile power. As he falls for the woman behind the fearsome mask, he must ask himself: can he save a saint who is determined to be remembered as a sinner?