By day, Elera plays the piano for wealthy patrons; by night, she lifts their coins. When a raid of fae warriors screams through her village, heartbreak becomes calculation: she bargains herself into a king's court to keep her sister alive. But King Haldorin is no ordinary ruler-he is a fallen god with a curse that warps time and hunger for a human heart.
Lured into a labyrinth that rearranges memory and fear, Elera faces ordeals that force her to admit the truths she has sealed away. Each trial chisels her from thief into something sharper-and reveals how far a man will go to be whole. Along the way, she must choose: embrace the king's dark plan, or walk a path that could set them both free-or kill them all.
An immersive blend of court powerplay and mythic testing, The Ballad of the Curse asks: what will you sacrifice to save the only family left? And who deserves to survive it?
