The girl they condemned may be the only one who can save them, if they don't execute her first.

Violet was born to be wicked. Surviving as a street urchin in the island city of Sol'Karr, she struggles to stay one step ahead of the city guards. And when a burglary gone wrong lands her in a jail cell, her nefarious Viperi bloodline could send her straight to the executioner's sword.

Her last hope comes in the form of a job offer from a mysterious man who may not be who he claims. If she accepts, she'll be working for The Zenith's Call, an organization who guards the world's most powerful magical artifacts—a task that requires highly skilled agents willing to risk their lives.

They believe Violet may have the skills to join them, if she can prove herself trustworthy, but when someone tries breaking into the Call's vault, rumors of Violet's treachery fly like arrows, and she's threatened with banishment back to a jail cell.

Now the only option she has left to prove her innocence lies in hunting down the real thief. But embracing her wicked Viperi abilities to catch an expert criminal could be what finally condemns her once and for all.

If you like Brandon Sanderson and Rick Riordan, you'll devour Nicole Conway's fast-paced, imaginative series.

Buy BORN OF SHADOW and start the addicting dark epic fantasy series today!

★ WINNER of the 2026 Spring Pencraft Awards for Literary Excellence ★

Kest Wynn has two rules: keep her head down, and keep her sister breathing.

As a human slave in a Mountain Troll labor camp, Kest survives on forgeries, stolen coins, and careful math. Every breath is calculated. Every forged ledger line is a gamble. And the crystal gem fused to her wrist, the mark of the Attuned, is wrapped so tight she can barely feel her own pulse.

Then the warlord Korrak imports a chained elven prisoner, and everything Kest has carefully built begins to unravel.

The elf knows what she is. And he's not the only one.

With the Sundering Rite closing in, a ceremony that will put Kest's power on display and break everything she's been hiding, she has days to forge a plan, file a key, and get her sister out alive. But escaping a troll warlord's stronghold means trusting an elf with secrets of his own, relying on allies who may not survive the morning, and using the very power she's spent years concealing.

One wrong move and the brand goes on. One wrong night and Mara pays for it.

The Crystal Born is a pulse-pounding young adult fantasy about a girl who turned survival into a science, and must now bet everything on a single, perfect escape with a sister she refuses to leave behind and the most unlikely of allies.

For fans of fierce heroines, intricate heists, and fantasy worlds where freedom is earned one breath at a time.