When the Crown Horologue—the clock that keeps Verdegard's hours honest—begins to falter, time-binder Nerine Quell can rewind minutes... at a price. The Guild hunter sent to arrest her, Kade Ravel, keeps the city breathing by the book—until the book becomes the problem. To stop a capital from fracturing and unmask a Regent siphoning citizens' minutes, the pair stage a scandalous fake courtship for the Masquerade of Centuries, using kisses as cover and waltzes as misdirection.
As fireworks bloom and gears grind, Nerine must stitch a new rhythm into the clock's failing heart while Kade holds the line against politics, panic, and his own oath. Every bind steals seconds from her body; every lie they sell tightens the snare around their necks. When a temporal quake splits them two minutes apart, they'll have to trust breath, not fate, to find each other—and choose whether love is a luxury... or the most precise repair of all.
Gaslight, masks, consent-forward heat, and a city that witnesses its own truth—The Clockmaker's Consort is a sharp, romantic heist about timing, partnership, and earning tomorrow.
