The team is everything.
The team is sacred.
And I have failed mine.

The Pit is the place for monsters. The worst of the worst.

I belong here. The Fells do not.

They intend to win their freedom, and they need me to do it, even if it means lying to everyone I've become their Shard. Even if it means leaving ScatheFire behind. Even if it means marrying one or all of them when this is over, and agreeing to whatever terms Blood sets.

But the Warden has no intention of letting me go, and he's determined to break what's left of my will and own my Aether-bound husk for himself. The Fells are powerless to stop the torment, and I am alone to endure it. I don't need to be their Heart or their Shard to know that their souls are crumbling under the nightmare they're living.

I have to be strong for all of us, but I don't have much time, and I'll have to ask them to give up the only thing that's kept them alive: their hope.

Epic dark fantasy medium-burn "it's complicated" love-hate reverse harem romance featuring a broken heroine who doesn't want to be put back together.