Kaelen has always been a nobody. The daughter of miners, she spends her days covered in soot, collecting shards of worthless quartz in secret and dreaming of a life beyond the tunnels. But when one of her “worthless” stones begins to hum with a heartbeat of its own, Kaelen is drawn into a secret buried deep beneath the earth—one that changes everything she thought she knew about her world. What she uncovers is no simple crystal, but the key to awakening a creature of legend: the last Crystal Wolf, a beast thought long extinct, said to guard the balance of the world itself. Now hunted by mercenaries, coveted by nobles, and whispered about by witches who call her chosen, Kaelen must learn to trust herself for the first time. Her unlikely companion, Rowan—a roguish traveler with secrets of his own—offers both guidance and danger. Together they’ll face a Dominion ruled by corrupt houses, where magic is currency and betrayal waits in every shadow. The Crystal Wolf chose Kaelen. But if she can’t find the strength to believe in herself, its return may shatter the world instead of saving it.