The Weight of Ash and Oaths

In a forgotten border province, the crown's law holds only because no one remembers anything else. Edrin Hale is an oath-keeper - a meticulous recorder of land disputes, tax records, and quiet compromises that keep a neglected territory functioning. Graymark survives by staying unnoticed. By accepting authority it never questioned. Until a dead royal messenger is found on the road. What begins as a routine investigation unravels centuries of buried truth: forgotten councils, erased agreements, and a binding oath that proves Graymark was never lawfully claimed by the crown. As imperial authority fractures and violence closes in, Edrin is forced to choose between obedience and truth - between preserving order built on lies or invoking an oath powerful enough to destroy a kingdom. This is not a story of rebellion or heroes with swords. It is a story about legitimacy, memory, and the terrifying cost of speaking truth when silence has kept people alive. The Weight of Ash and Oaths is a restrained, literary political fantasy about governance, power, and the fragile line between law and force - ideal for readers who value moral complexity over spectacle.