Introduction: The world is broken. Fractured by divine war, bound by fragile alliances, and haunted by the abyss. The dead do not rest. The living do not trust the dark. And the Gods? They have long since turned their backs on mortals.Prince Delacroix of Gallian was never meant to live. Shadeborn鈥攎arked by the cursed black eyes of the abyss鈥攈is birth was a stain upon the royal bloodline. Cast into war, sent to die on a dozen frontlines, he survived against the will of kings and fate alike. But after years of enduring, of struggling, of being reminded that his existence is a mistake鈥攈e chooses to end it on his own terms.But fate is a cruel, ironic mistress.As the noose tightens, a stranger arrives. A warrior draped in foreign steel, a R艒nin鈥攐ne of the nameless exorcists who walk the Veil, hunting the horrors of the abyss. Nakamura does not offer Delacroix salvation. He offers him oblivion. A way to exist without truly living."To join the Order is to die. And yet, you will still draw breath."Meanwhile, Knight-Captain Araeius of the Vanguard Legion rides in pursuit. Delacroix鈥檚 only true friend, the brother he never had. A loyal soldier to the Crown, but bound by honor to the one man the Crown would see forgotten. His mission is clear鈥攆ind Delacroix, bring him home. But the deeper he digs, the more dangerous the shadows become.Someone does not want him catching up. Someone wants Delacroix gone. And Araeius soon finds himself hunted by an unseen predator. A woman with violet eyes, watching from the dark.The road to exile is long. The road to truth? Even longer.And the abyss is always hungry....