Borrowed Voice

Synopsis

In the empire of Vess, magic must be spoken aloud. Ilan, a sixteen-year-old half-Rhenni mute whose voice was cut out and stolen in a casket, is registered as a state asset and assigned to Ser Cassien Vane—a handsome, debt-ridden knight who plans to farm him for re-castable spells. But every spell Ilan casts through Cassien brands the knight's skin in forbidden Rhenni script, recording the true intent behind his words. As they climb the order's duel ladder, Ilan secretly builds Cassien into a vessel for the master-word that can call his voice home. At the capital, a thief wearing Ilan's stolen voice strips every brand from Cassien's body. Cassien survives by talking, the thief dies, and Cassien speaks the master-word. Ilan's voice returns—but Cassien never speaks again, the entire forbidden tongue written into his back where only Ilan can read it. Ilan's first spoken words are a registry line claiming a silenced knight as his dependent, and his first great lie is refusing to tell the court what Cassien's skin says.

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