Liora has spent her life learning how to keep doors closed: doors in stone, doors in ritual, doors inside herself. But when a radiant cult-leader named Vespera begins gathering thousands for a "Reunion" under the full moon, Liora discovers the truth too late—this isn't salvation. It's a ceremony designed to take consent, reshape memory, and turn a crowd into a single, chanting mouth.
Hunted through markets and mountains, Liora joins forces with Keiran, a prince who refuses to be used as a symbol, and Rowan, a former "proxy" who learns to reclaim their voice. As the full moon draws near, they race to sabotage the rite from within—rewriting the very structure of the spell so it can't lock without a real, personal answer.
But Vespera doesn't need chains when she can make kindness do the work.