The Bound Girl

Every generation, one child from each kingdom is sent to live in the enemy court. They are never allowed home. They are called The Bound. Mira West is the new Bound from Sunland, sent to the black city of Darkhold. She is supposed to be quiet. Obedient. Forgettable. But Mira has a secret. She can read the darkness. She can see the things people hide in their shadows. And every time she uses this power, she loses a memory. She does not remember her mother's face. She is afraid to remember why she agreed to be Bound. Cole Ash is the Hand of the Silent King the only voice the king uses. He is cold, precise, untouchable. He is also a lie. He is not the Hand. He is the Silent King. The real Hand died years ago. If the truth breaks, Darkhold falls into civil war. Mira and Cole are drawn together not by attraction. By recognition. Two people who have built their lives on lies. Who see the cracks in each other's masks. Who cannot touch without wondering what the other is hiding. But the treaty that keeps their nations from war is breaking. Not from swords. From love. And someone is killing the Bound. One by one. Their shadows found empty. Their bodies unmarked. The killer believes they are freeing the Bound. The killer does not know what happens when a shadow is unbound.

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