For three years, he was the mute son-in-law—humiliated, dismissed as worthless. But on the night his silence ends, the world learns the truth: he carries power, knowledge, and a vow. Those who mocked him will kneel. The silent son-in-law is silent no more.

Three years ago, Adrian Steele—the Wainwright family’s despised son-in-law—took the blame for another man’s crime. They called him a monster. A disgrace. A convict. But behind the walls of Blackwater Penitentiary, he became something else. Nine masters—warrior, healer, mystic, strategist—each forged a piece of him in steel and blood. Now the man who entered as a scapegoat walks out as a weapon. The city that mocked him will remember his name. The enemies who framed him will tremble before the Steel War God.