This novella is a work of adult fantasy romance fiction. This story takes place 10 years prior to the events in the full-length novel, Kiss of the Black Flame, book 1 in The Bookbinder’s Bargain trilogy. It is designed to stand alone but provide a glimpse into the past of our protagonist, Saige Grayson. In the following novella, Saige is twenty-five years of age, however, in the main series she is thirty-five. You can, of course, read the novel without having read this prequel. Content warnings: gaslighting, chronic pain, pressure to commit a sexual act/sexual harassment, references to self-harm. -- Ten years before the bargain that will change everything, Saige Grayson is building a life on her own terms. At work, she loses herself in the rhythm of the bindery—the smell of leather and beeswax, the quiet satisfaction of restoring what's broken. All the while, she's fighting a body that betrays her without warning, a relationship that slowly chips away at everything she knows to be true, and a debt to the city's most dangerous man that she can't ignore. Then, during the chaos of the Reclaiming Festival, she spots a figure in the shadows. Green eyes. A metallic ring of gold. Gone before she can be sure he was ever there. Except there's blood on her paring knife. And it isn't hers. Saige has spent years being told her instincts are wrong. That the pain isn't real. That she's imagining things. She's done listening.