The Weight of Broken Vows

About this book

In Marrowgate, a rain-soaked Midwestern city recovering from ruin, promises manifest as luminous Vowthread that binds the city's infrastructure together. When vows are kept, the city heals; when broken, the foundations crumble. Mara Kells, a Vow Notary cursed with the ability to physically feel dishonesty, upholds the law by day while secretly notarizing merciful lies to protect the vulnerable. Her orderly world collides with Eli Rook, a stoic 'thread-cutter' who illicitly severs magical contracts to free people from predatory binds. Their opposing philosophies—preserving the city's structure versus saving individual lives—spark a dangerous attraction as a corruption in the Vowthread network threatens to collapse Marrowgate entirely. Forced into an uneasy alliance, Mara and Eli must navigate a conspiracy reaching the highest levels of the Civic Registry, unraveling a tangle of deceit that forces them to question the true cost of keeping a promise. As the city groans under the strain of a thousand broken oaths, they must decide if love is a vow worth making, or if it is the one thread that will finally snap the city's spine.