The Cruelty of Day

<p class=ql-align-justify><strong style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Dion Rhodea never let himself consider what he had to lose.</strong></p><p class=ql-align-justify></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>As the budding prodigy of Helia's infamous Rogues Guild-and estranged heir to the Rhodea family seat-Dion had lived a life as full of privilege as it was hardship.</span></p><p class=ql-align-justify></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>His vacant moral compass earned him a long tolerant leash from the guild. A warm home welcomed him after every triumphant-or battered-return. Contracts and money flowed freely too and allowed Dion to build the life he had only ever dreamed of.</span></p><p class=ql-align-justify></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>But when a merciless act of retribution rips away his only source of true peace a course is chartered that leaves Dion forever changed.</span></p><p class=ql-align-justify></p><p class=ql-align-justify><strong style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>This is the story of how a broken man earned a brutal scar and lost his heart in the process.</strong></p><p class=ql-align-justify></p><p class=ql-align-justify>---</p><p class=ql-align-justify></p><p><em style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The Cruelty of Day is a prequel novel in the Fires of Carinae series intended to be read in between book one (The Mercy of Dawn) and two (title TBA).</em></p><p><em style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Set 100 years before the first book this story explores the complex themes of loss and grief and how both misguided influence and lifelong trauma can shape someone. It should go without saying that this is not a happy ending love story.</em></p><p></p>