Revenge demands the ultimate sacrifice. When twins Thais and Thatcher are thrust into the deadly Trials of Ascension, they'll navigate brutal competitions and forbidden desires, discovering some secrets are worth dying for—and others are worth killing for. In a world where divine power bleeds into the mortal realm, Thais Morvaren has mastered the art of deception. To her seaside village, she's just a fisherman's daughter, serving oysters to summer tourists. In secret, she hides her ability to forge starlight—a power that would force her into the deadly Trials of Ascension. But when a priest's ritual exposes her powers, Thais is seized and conscripted into the trials against her will. Now trapped in a competition she never wanted to enter, she transforms her fear into purpose: to kill the King of the Gods. To take down one of the Aesymar, she must become one, even if it costs her everything. What she doesn't expect is her twin brother's powers suddenly manifesting, forcing him into the trials alongside her—leaving Thais to protect more than just herself. Worse still, the selection ceremony binds her to a mentor: Xül. A necromancer prince with blood-soaked hands, a sharp tongue, and dark secrets of his own. From the moment they meet, sparks fly. He's insufferably arrogant, she's stubborn to the bone, and neither has any intention of yielding to the other... or to the heat between them. Each trial survived brings her closer to godhood, but beneath the spectacle of competition, something ancient and malevolent stalks the shadows of the divine realm—a darkness that threatens to unravel the heavens themselves. The cost of godhood is rising. Because some stars aren't meant to be weapons. Some stars are meant to fall.

Fia Riftborne thought joining the Sidhe Guard was the hardest choice she'd ever make.She was wrong.Taken prisoner by the very shadows she was sworn to fight, Fia uncovers a devastating truth. The wraiths who brought destruction to the Isle's western border aren't monsters at all, but a race of people from a dying realm called the Kálfar, and they believe Fia's growing powers are tied to their survival.As war looms on two fronts, Fia must navigate a world of shadow magic and political upheaval. A disgraced Kálfar lord builds an army in the south while tensions within Sídhe reach a breaking point. And the Void that gave Fia her power is calling—but answering it means betraying everyone she left behind.The Guard. Her friends. Laryk.In a war where nothing is as it seems, choosing the wrong side could cost her everything, including the brooding commander whose darkness seems to recognize her own.

Fia Riftborne thought joining the Sidhe Guard was the hardest choice she'd ever make.She was wrong.Taken prisoner by the very shadows she was sworn to fight, Fia uncovers a devastating truth. The wraiths who brought destruction to the Isle's western border aren't monsters at all, but a race of people from a dying realm called the Kálfar, and they believe Fia's growing powers are tied to their survival.As war looms on two fronts, Fia must navigate a world of shadow magic and political upheaval. A disgraced Kálfar lord builds an army in the south while tensions within Sídhe reach a breaking point. And the Void that gave Fia her power is calling—but answering it means betraying everyone she left behind.The Guard. Her friends. Laryk.In a war where nothing is as it seems, choosing the wrong side could cost her everything, including the brooding commander whose darkness seems to recognize her own.

He was striking in a cold-blooded kind of way, like his beauty was tinged with poison. Unassuming, alluring even. I brought my eyes up to meet his. "Fia Riftborne?" The words dripped from his lips like blood from a dagger. Twenty years after a rebellion branded her an outcast, Fia Riftborne navigates a city rife with prejudice so deep, it's often deadly. But she harbors a secret, one that would paint an even larger target on her back. A hidden power within her is growing, threatening to destroy everything she's built for herself. Enter the elusive Sidhe General, Laryk Ashford, who is building a unit of powerful wielders within the Guard to face a growing threat. Wraiths of darkness devour the Western border, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake. When Fia's power erupts, and two daughters of Nobility are seemingly dead, General Ashford offers her a chilling choice: join the Sidhe Guard or face execution. Because Fia might be the only hope for the Isle's survival. Torn between surrendering to the chaos or becoming a weapon for those who took everything from her, Fia must confront her growing feelings for the General and face a dark truth that could shatter everything she's ever known.

When it comes to dragons, there’s no such thing as safe. I learned that the hard way when my kith and kindred were slaughtered right before my eyes. Everyone thinks the wyverns and the sorcai did it, but I know the truth. I’ve been hiding from The Horde ever since, existing under their radar, surviving. And then one day, they find me…he finds me. Aeson Noctis, the king’s second son and my new captor. Aeson thinks he can force me back to Paragon City. He thinks he can use me and claim my power for his own. But the dragons should’ve been more careful about who they let inside their city. I’m not some weak little pawn. I’m here looking for answers. I’m here looking for revenge. When it comes to dragons, there’s no such thing as safe. I know because I am one, and now I’m going to make The Horde pay for what they’ve done. They thought they killed all the Syphons. They thought they hunted down every one. They thought wrong.

What would you change if you could go back in time? In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time. In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know. But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . . Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?