Blood of the Dustborn

A knife bites into sixteen-year-old Alto’s wrist—and the dead commander inside him opens his eyes when the overseer shouts, “Royal blood. Call the witch-hunters.” Arlen Kash died leading his army, but now he’s trapped in a desert slave’s body, armed with his old battle instincts and a bloodline the Federation tried to erase. Forced into a traveling pit, he wins seven brutal fights—until his eighth opponent carries the broken sword of his former lieutenant. Then the governor’s daughter, Lira, treats his wounds, never realizing her dead father ordered the massacre of Alto’s people. She should be his enemy, but her gentle hands awaken a hunger vengeance can’t silence—and every fight brings him closer to exposing the royal blood, the whispers of the dead, and the truth buried beneath the sand. When the witch-hunters come, will Arlen let Lira save him… or use her to destroy the family that slaughtered his own?