A Heart of Ash and Crystal
By @john1208
Kavira Tarsin stands at her brother's grave with a pair of shears and a bleak countdown. Afflicted by the Glass-Rot - a magical curse slowly crystallizing her heart - she has until the spring thaw to live. Her only hope lies in the restricted medical vaults of the Karst Watch, an ancient, all-male brotherhood of monster hunters. Disguised as 'Kavir', she ascends the initiate ranks with cold, ruthless calculation. Her only obstacle is Garek Vond, a prodigy of brutal discipline who despises 'Kavir's' merciless tactics. Their bitter rivalry turns physical, but as they bleed together on frozen battlefields, hatred gives way to a desperate, unspoken gravity. Treating Garek's ruptured chest in the pitch-darkness of a collapsed cavern, the undeniable tension shatters Garek's worldview. Haunted by melancholic longing, Garek prepares to forsake his vows and face the world's wrath to stand by the man he loves. But when he resolves to confess, a fateful intrusion upon the glacial springs reveals two shattering truths: 'Kavir' is a woman, and the crystal spreading across her bare ribs means she is almost out of time. Can his newfound devotion save her before she shatters?
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