In an empire where ash falls without end, mind reading is both a curse and the only weapon that can be trusted.
Ayla can hear anyone’s thoughts: their fears, lies, betrayals, even truths they refuse to face themselves. This power makes her crucial to the resistance group known as the Heart Thieves Project. They plan to infiltrate the Source Energy Tower, steal the “heart” that sustains the empire’s rule, and break the tyrant’s thousand-year seal.
But when she touches her enemies, her comrades, and even the mysterious commander of the Ashguard, she hears more and more truths, contradicting and tearing one another apart...
The tyrant says her mother chose to die.
Her mentor says his son was the first stepping stone.
Beneath the enemy’s sword, she hears a cry: “Save me, sister.”
The heart does not hold a sleeping demon, but a god who has been deceived for three thousand years.
Ayla must choose: Whose truth should she believe? And whose life should she trade for another person’s tomorrow?
“I’m not a monster,” she tells herself. “I’ve only heard the answer everyone else is afraid to hear.”
