The Kintsugi Cipher

Book One of The Solomon Arcanum

by Gerald Locke

Kyra Vale lives a quiet life in Harrowgate-restoring fractured porcelain, studying art history, and relying on the one constant she's always had: her father, Lucius, who has raised her alone and kept their world small, safe, and ordinary.

Until the night it isn't.

While working late in the university studio, a hairline crack appears in the air itself-a shimmer that bends light like broken glass. Instinct guides Kyra's hand. Her kintsugi brush moves the way it always has: to mend what's broken.

The invisible fracture seals under her touch.

The studio erupts with concussive force. Gold dust clings to her skin. And across the city, a dormant magical signature flares back to life-one the hidden Order of Solomon has been waiting for.

The Order controls magic through sigils burned into flesh, binding those who channel Aen, the unseen force woven through the world. Kyra is the anomaly they feared: Inborn, unmarked, and now mysteriously tied to the reawakening of the stolen relic Lucius has secretly safeguarded for years-the Kintsugi Key, a fractured sphere capable of reshaping the balance between Aen and the void beneath it.

With the Order's most loyal enforcer, Cade Merrin, sent to retrieve them under Directive Theta, Lucius finally reveals the truth he's kept buried: Kyra's gift didn't begin tonight. It's been growing for years-carefully shielded, protected, and never explained.

Now hunted by Purifiers, pursued by the monstrous Marred, and burdened by a power that mirrors her art, Kyra must confront a terrifying possibility:

The Key doesn't just react to her.

It recognizes her.

Perfect for fans of The Mortal Instruments and A Discovery of Witches, The Kintsugi Cipher launches The Solomon Arcanum with a story of magic, family, and the fractures that define what we choose to mend-and what we choose to break.