What the River Keeps

The barge Kerevet carries a god in chains and a woman who keeps it breathing. Kaya-bek has hidden what she is for three years — until Temurbek, the captain sworn to drown both idol and anchor before the solstice falls, looks at her and sees not a weapon but a woman he cannot bring himself to kill. As a rebel priestess plots to free the god and a mercenary schemes to steal it whole, the barge becomes a closed battlefield where every faction wants Kaya dead, freed, or owned. Temurbek has three days to choose between his oath and his obsession — and the river does not forgive hesitation.