Nowhere to run. Everything to lose. The one person you must trust, you can’t.
Joette and Jamwon were never supposed to be friends.
Born into rival militant societies separated by centuries of conflict, they forged a secret childhood friendship that grew into something far more dangerous. Joette dreamed they might one day use their positions of power to bring lasting peace to their people. Jamwon dreamed of a future with her.
Neither dream survives the return of war.
After two hundred years of peace, a joint effort to investigate a colossal alien artifact buried beneath the Antarctic ice turns sour. As tensions rise, Joette and Jamwon are sent to renegotiate a failing armistice. But before peace talks can begin, a surprise attack forces them into a maze of ancient military tunnels. Trapped, they desperately search for a way out, needing each other to survive but struggling to come to terms with themselves, the war, and the feelings they have for each other. They hope for new beginnings at the end of the tunnels—but what they find is a broken world even more hostile than before.
In the aftermath of an apocalyptic weapon, millions are dead and their homelands lie in ruins. With the heads of their families gone, Joette and Jamwon inherit the leadership roles they have been groomed for since birth. With both sides consumed by grief, suspicion, and vengeance, they must attempt the impossible: forge a new peace before the weapon is used again and its red clouds spread to the last green lands.
Powerful forces work against them. Old wounds refuse to heal. Dangerous secrets threaten to surface. The absolute trust they once shared hangs by a thread. Though it seems the fate of their world rests in their hands, the greatest threat to what remains of humanity may not be a return to war—but the thing buried beneath the ice.
