In the hidden world of the tiger-born, five clans keep an uneasy balance beneath gods who watch but never rule. Every twenty years, the Festival of Mates begins—four years of trials that test endurance, cunning, wisdom, and unity. Those who survive earn new markings, new bloodlines, and a fragile peace bought by their own hands. Kael of Sunfang enters his fourth Festival with the patience of old wounds. Lira of Mistwhisper enters her third with mercy she cannot seem to unlearn. When a storm drives their paths together, it is no omen—only coincidence. Yet something in the world stirs as they part, a faint hum beneath the silence that has lasted for centuries. No god whispers. No destiny calls. But in a land built on trials and chance, one quiet choice will begin to bend the pattern of blood itself— and when the balance finally tips, even the gods will remember what it means to feel.