The Hushlight Court

Neshtaran Ovaldar fixes problems for a living — the kind her family's trade business can't put its name to. When the Vessaran Court opens its gates to outsiders for the first time in a generation, she's the one sent through them, with eight days to deliver a contract, collect payment, and get out again before the gate seals for another lifetime.

She doesn't plan on staying. She doesn't plan on falling for the court's grim, gorgeous Kindler, the man sworn to tend the rare light that keeps Vessaran's halls warm — and that is quietly, beautifully consuming every noble who touches it too long. She doesn't plan on discovering that her own brother's secrets are already inside the walls with her, or that the court's careful peace is built on a rot everyone has agreed not to see.

By the time the gate closes, Nesh has to decide what her family's loyalty is actually worth — and what she's willing to become to keep the people she loves, on both sides of the wall, from disappearing.