The Prince Who Could Hear Forgotten Gods

In the kingdom of Aethelgard, history is a crime and silence is law. Every year, King Silas Crawford orders the Inquisition to burn ancient scrolls and erase every trace of the gods once worshipped by humanity. His son, Prince Cael Whitlock, has always believed the strange static in his mind is a sickness. But during the Great Purge, the noise becomes a chorus, and one forbidden name rises above the flames: Valerian.After collapsing with blood pouring from his eyes, Cael discovers that his condition is far more terrifying than madness. His blood contains luminous golden threads-the Blood of the First-and allows him to hear forgotten divine beings that exist beyond ordinary reality. In the Royal Archives, the old scholar Elias Hawthorne reveals the truth: Valerian, the Ancient One and Living Anchor, sacrificed himself long ago to hold reality together. The minor gods fear his return, but their motives are far from pure.Determined to uncover the truth, Cael escapes the palace with his loyal guard, Zane Mercer, and seeks the mysterious oracle Aurora Whitmore in the Ash Shrines. Aurora convinces him that Valerian is a cosmic monster preparing to destroy the world. She gives Cael a Star-Glass weapon and sends him toward the Rift, where the Ancient One is imprisoned.Yet at the Rift, Cael discovers that everything he believed was a lie. The Forgotten Gods are not helpless victims-they are parasitic entities seeking to consume Valerian's power. Aurora has manipulated him into becoming the key that can break the Anchor's defenses. Valerian is not trying to conquer Aethelgard; he is an exhausted cosmic guardian whose eternal imprisonment has kept the world alive.Cael must finally choose between obedience and truth, between killing his ancestor and ending an ancient cycle of suffering. With Zane beside him and his father's secret revealed, the prince must decide what true freedom means-and whether the world deserves to remember the gods it once forgot.