Vows Woven in Ash
By @john1208
Blood drips from Ozerin’s blade as he dispatches the last of the street thugs in the fog-choked alleys of Czarna. Even in the middle of a brutal fight, his cold, calculating mind is fixed on a single objective: the absolute ruin of Ruzena Moravka. Three years ago, she supposedly ordered his assassination. To exact his revenge, Ozerin has spent months playing the perfect, gentle fiancé, wrapping the proud noblewoman in a suffocating web of devotion. His trap springs at the grand altar of the Obsidian Conservatory. He abandons her, exposing fabricated crimes that strip her of her title and leave her at the mercy of the city’s grief-monsters, the Zal.
The ruin is absolute - but the victory tastes of ash. When Ozerin uncovers a magically sealed vault, he discovers a horrifying truth: Ruzena was innocent. Ozerin’s own past self orchestrated the assassination attempt and wiped his memories to prevent a cursed prophecy from claiming her soul. He engineered her devastation to save her life. Now, the woman he realizes he desperately loves is broken, hunted, and despises him. Can a monster who orchestrated his own heartbreak ever earn forgiveness, or is he doomed to watch her seek solace with his greatest rival?
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