Tempted
Follow the Sovereign's edicts. Do not be tempted by the Below.
Adhering to Eden’s rules should be simple, especially since it’s what’s kept the humans with genetic-based Gifts—the Gifted—safe ever since Eden’s six islands rose from the ashes of the Below eight hundred years ago.
But the Eden of then is not the Eden of now; Gifts are dwindling rapidly, each generation markedly weaker than the one before. Penn Urbana, Eden’s last island, is home to the weakest of all: scavengers who collect items from the Below at the behest of the Sovereign. Naturally drawn by their Gift to important things, some discover the Below’s temptation too strong to resist.
After all, rules were made to be broken, even if getting caught means death.
Praetorian Commander Jagur Sejanus has spent his entire life tied to the Sovereign. Raised in Zion, Eden’s capital, with deadly Gifts honed in the Citadel, he is a living weapon at Eden’s disposal. But compassion has always battled his training, and he finds his convictions tested when stationed on Penn. Forced into an impossible situation, he executes an innocent to save a woman with fire in her eyes and inadvertently ties their lives together to hide their secrets.
Eve Nerea watched as Commander Jagur executed her Patriarch for treason—a crime she committed when she removed an artifact from the Below. Six months later, she’s Summoned to Zion for mandatory participation in an undisclosed program. When she arrives, she’s greeted by none other than the Commander who killed her Patriarch—and kept her secret.
As the situation in Eden deteriorates and a new class of Gifted is created, Eve and Jagur are forced to ally against threats both from within Eden and from the Below. In the end, they must choose between falling into temptation or being Eden’s deliverance.