Syra, known in the fighting pits as the “Greykiss,” is a survivor forged in blood and water. Now she wants nothing more than to be left alone, but in the corrupt city of New Merserat, a monster’s reputation is a debt that’s never paid. When her past returns in the form of her old patron, Syra is dragged back into the violent games of the powerful.

Then there is Lienne—a seemingly ordinary young librarian troubled by unexplained headaches, with an inconvenient habit of seeing past Syra’s scars and reputation.

When Syra accepts a security contract from House Saltbird to guard its remote, brine-soaked Salt Field, she is forced into an uneasy alliance with a mercenary crew that sees her as a liability, while a threat she cannot yet name begins to emerge beyond the camp.

As fear closes in and the mystery deepens, Syra must confront more than the ghosts of her past. She must decide whether survival still means keeping everyone at a distance—or whether protecting the one person she never meant to need is worth the risk of becoming vulnerable.

Embers in the SALT is a gritty, character-driven dark fantasy of slow-burning connection, hard-won trust, morally gray choices, brutal violence, and the monsters people become—and believe themselves to be.