A Heart of Ash and EmberAn ancient Umbral Drake, a creature of living stone and shadow, has slumbered for eons in the heart of the mountain. His is a solitary existence of immense, impersonal power-until the songs of a fearless human botanist, Elara, draw him from the darkness. Captivated by her compassion and her light, he makes a cataclysmic choice: he sacrifices his primordial power and immortality to become a man, all for a chance at her love.But his sacrifice is not so easily accepted. The deep earth exacts a price, sending a devastating vision of Elara's death in childbirth. Terrified, the newly-named Kaelen races to defy fate, but each step he takes-each desperate bargain with forbidden magic and dark forces-twists his love into a possessive fear. He is transforming, not into the man he hoped to be, but into the very kind of demonic creature he once feared, and his actions to save the woman he loves become the reason the prophecy will fulfill itself. This is a dark, epic fantasy tragedy about the monstrous price of love and the terrifying truth that sometimes, to hold on too tightly is to destroy the very thing you cherish.