The Steward of Ardan by V. Veritas
The Radiance Reborn Saga Book 1
Every soul carries a flame. Some are being stolen. In the land of Selira, every person carries an inner hearth of warmth and life, and those whose hearths go cold are called Hollows. They are feared, shunned, and driven into the hills, and people whisper that the cold spreads by touch. For a thousand years, the Sovereign Flame empire has kept order with its registries, its braziers, and its checkpoints, promising to find the sickness early and keep everyone else safe.
Then Prince Caelen of Ardan kneels beside a dying girl, and her flame returns. It should have been a miracle. Instead, it puts a target on his back. Imperial soldiers gather at Ardan's border, and beneath his father's palace, sealed roads older than any kingdom begin to stir. With a sharp-tongued scholar, a loyal friend, and a guide who knows far more than he admits, Caelen rides north in search of answers, into the cold places of Selira where the Hollows have been sent to disappear.
What he finds there overturns everything he was taught. The Hollows are not the danger. The sickness his people fear is really a harvest, and the empire that promises to protect them is the one stealing their warmth, and it has been doing so for a very long time. To save his people, Caelen must take up an ancient office, one older than the crown itself, and learn the hardest truth a prince can learn: what is entrusted to you is never yours to possess.
The Steward of Ardan is the first book of the Radiance Reborn Saga, an epic fantasy with a mystery at its heart, written for readers who love the wonder of Narnia and the weight of Middle-earth. V. Veritas builds a world where warmth is life, power hides behind the promise of protection, and true leadership means guarding what can never be owned. It is a story about courage, stewardship, and the quiet light that refuses to go out.

My profession is online marketing and software development (10+ years experience), a lot of AI related projects nowadays, check my latest works here. But my real passion is reading books both fiction and non-fiction. I have several favorite authors like James Redfield or Daniel Keyes. If I read a book I always want to find the best part of it, every book has its unique value.





