A lush romantasy debut where memory is magic, love is forbidden, and every vow costs more than it seems.

At the floating war college of Valedor, magic doesn’t come from blood or spellbooks—it comes from memory. The stronger the spell, the more cherished the memory it consumes. To survive the Seven Trials is to become a memory-wielder, a leader, a weapon. Few make it to the end. Even fewer come back the same.

Vespera Arren, last of a disgraced noble house, enters the Trials to reclaim her legacy—but the price begins with her first kiss. When she gives it to the Gate of Fire, she loses the name, the face, and the feeling of a boy she once loved… and begins to unravel a secret buried deep in her bloodline. Her power is not like the others. Her magic remembers—and it remembers everything.

Then there’s Cassian, the Oathbreaker. A guardian bound to protect her by a vow he no longer recalls. Haunted by fragmented memories and a past entwined with her brother’s death, Cassian is the one person Vespera can’t trust—and the one she can’t stay away from. Because something in him knows her. And something in her refuses to forget him.

But as the Trials turn brutal and the truth about Valedor’s Ascendant Houses begins to surface, Vespera must choose what to sacrifice: her past, her name… or the boy she might be starting to love.

Gripping, lyrical, and fiercely romantic, The Seventh Trial is a slow-burn romantasy perfect for fans of Fourth Wing, Throne of Glass, and An Ember in the Ashes. With mythic magic, aching emotional stakes, and a love story rooted in memory, this is a debut that will linger long after the final page.