Voice of Ash: the Verity Saga – Book 1

When the First Null falls, Calvareth rations speech like bread and hangs anyone who spends a word without proof. Strahen Klendmir—conman, oath-breaker, Trine-gifted and ruined—signs the Order of Verity’s pardon rather than the gallows. His task: restore the Chord of Vocem in a city that no longer believes anyone, least of all him.With Lyra, a truthscribe who cannot be lied to, he hunts the rumor-trails the Null feeds on: speech tokens clicking in the Silent Market, cracked witness lanterns, a Hall of Measures that hides a disbelief engine beneath its stone. Each true word Strahen speaks bends the world—and scorches his throat raw. Each false step draws zealots, magistrates, and the Order’s quiet knives.Calvareth wants a voice it can chain. The Null wants hunger unopposed. Strahen wants one thing he can mean without hedging. To live, he must wager the only power he has left: pain-bound speech anchored to a truth he would rather not face. If he can light even a fragment of Verity, the bells may ring again. If he can’t, the city will keep choking on whispers—and he will be the last lie it swallows.