Evertide

Evertide is the second novel in The Shards series. It begins in the immediate aftermath of the shard engine awakening beneath Carth, as Shardborn can no longer be dismissed as rumour and every faction that felt the pulse begins moving openly.

Cera and Zora resurface injured, hunted, and separated from allies they no longer know they can trust. Dray is missing, Kellan Voss has uncovered evidence connecting his brother to the purge that should have killed Cera, and Evertide has stepped into public view under the language of protective oversight. Zora is still changing after touching the engine. Violet glyph-light flickers in her eyes, the Ghostline calls to her, and the word Home carries a meaning she cannot explain. While Sable Koro turns a failed assignment into a personal hunt, Cera's group searches for Senya, the missing subject DV-EX-2, and the truth about what the engine awakened.

Evertide widens the conflict from one family hiding from covert programs to a city facing the public arrival of powers it cannot control. The organization presents its experiments as protection, while Bureau resources, Viridian remnants, the Blackline Syndicate, and forces beyond Carth compete for Zora. The mysterious mirrored presence inside the Ghostline begins offering fragments of the truth, but never without a cost.

Evertide turns the hidden war for the Shardborn into an open struggle for Carth. The city knows Zora exists, the engine is awake, and something much larger than Evertide is already approaching.