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Unbound

About the Book

Nineteen-year-old Nessa Thorne expects death when she volunteers for Empire's selection. Instead, she's thrust into Confluence Academy, where students harness elemental magic and bond powerful beasts—from wolves to ancient dragons—forging themselves into the Empire's most lethal weapons.

Students are branded by affinity: water, air, earth, or fire. But Nessa’s mark is different. A silver spiral—the mark of an unbound. It’s a power so dangerous her kind were hunted to extinction centuries ago—or so the Empire claims.

To survive, she must hide what she is in a castle that reeks of blood, where students kill each other for advantage and failing to tether an elemental means death.

Nessa’s greatest threat may be the only other volunteer—Raith Hollow, a powerful fire affinity whose scorching gaze follows her every move and whose secrets could topple kingdoms.

Alliances are forged in blood, enemies circle like vultures, and forbidden desires close in. Death once seemed like release from her tragic past. Now it's not an option. She'll embrace her terrible potential or watch everything she's fought for burn.

At Confluence Academy, students leave as weapons... or they don't leave at all.

What to expect: A delicious slow burn romance as dangerous as the magic? Check. A final line readers are saying will haunt you for weeks? Double check. An ending that will leave you desperate for book 2? Absolutely.

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Confluence Academy

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About the author

Penelope Bloom

Penelope Bloom doesn’t just write romantic comedy; she flips it on its head with sharp wit, fearless characters, and situations that teeter between wildly outrageous and strikingly relatable. Her books don’t tiptoe into the absurd; they leap, heels first, into laugh-out-loud chaos built on irresistible chemistry and…

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