In the brutal world of the Shadow Covenant, Commander Thaddeus Nightborne follows one strict rule: never claim the same healer twice. Emotions make fighters weak, attachments create vulnerabilities—this is the creed that keeps him alive in the endless war against the Feral corruption.
Until Rowan Emberthorn's healing touch woke something primal in him.
The night she finished her healer's rites, Rowan's essence changed into something Thaddeus had never encountered. For four intoxicating months, he broke every rule he'd ever made, returning to her healing room night after night with a hunger that terrified him. Rowan thought their connection transcended the Covenant's cold laws—that she was finally the one who could reach the unreachable Commander's frozen heart.
Then the visions came—prophetic dreams showing her carrying his child. Days later, Thaddeus revealed his blood-binding to Lyanna Stormweaver, the War Council's chosen bride, sealing an alliance that would save thousands from the Feral advance.
Shattered and carrying his secret heir, Rowan fled into the Borderlands with nothing but her healer's pride and unborn child. She found unexpected refuge with Dante—a mysterious exile who taught her daughter to control powers that shouldn't exist.
Four years later, Thaddeus finally tracks her down, his sanity fractured by an obsessive hunt across hostile regions. But when Rowan refuses to return, Dante reveals a truth that changes everything: he's Thaddeus's blood-brother, and a forbidden Eclipse Ritual bound their life forces together in youth. Rowan isn't caught between two men—she's the third point of an ancient death-binding that triggers only once every century.
Now, choosing one mate will actually drain the other's life force, while the War Council hunts them for harboring the Eclipse Child—a daughter whose existence could either save the Covenant from corruption or destroy it entirely.

I ran after Ember and grabbed her before she reached Lyanna.


"No!" I pulled my daughter against my chest, turning my back to the tainted Queen. "You're not sacrificing yourself. Not while I'm living."


"But Mama—" Ember's voice was so small. So scared. "All those people will die."


"Then we find another way." I looked at the families running in fear around the settlement. Parents clutching children. Old people who couldn't run fast. All about to be torn apart by Lyanna's hive-mind Ferals. "There's always another way."


Lyanna's perverted laugh made my skin crawl. "How brave. The nurse playing hero. But you can't save them, Rowan. You couldn't even save yourself four years ago."


Those words hit like a punch to the gut. She was right. Four years ago, I'd been useless. Pregnant and alone, running from the only home I'd known. I'd almost died in the Borderlands. Would have died if Dante hadn't found me.


Chapter 8 - Standing Her Ground