Where The Fire Burns by Kara Toews

The prophecy spoke of fire. It never warned about her heart. There are three hard truths about the Wall. One, no one is allowed near it. Two, no one can cross or destroy it. And three, if anyone does, the Alyrians will kill them. Ren Sorra has spent her life obeying those rules. The Wall keeps her village safe, or so she’s been told, from the Alyrians, the monsters who murdered her mother. Shunned by her people, Ren keeps her head down, gutting fish by day and dreaming of vengeance by night. But when she uncovers a strange double-ended key and a message hinting that her mother’s death was a lie, Ren does the unthinkable: she crosses the Wall. On the other side, everything she’s been taught shatters. The Alyrians aren’t the monsters she expected, and Ren’s own blood burns with the secret magic she’s now forced to yield: the power to summon violet fire. A prophecy speaks of that fire bringing either unity or ruin to Alyria, and a shadowed figure known only as Reaver will stop at nothing to twist Ren’s power to his will. To uncover the truth and survive this world, Ren must master her flames, confront the past, and decide who she truly is. If Ren opens her heart to the Alyrians and accepts her violet fire, she will lose her partner from her old life in the village. But if she refuses her new identity, she will not only fail her found family but also risk the lives of all the Alyrians she has been fated to save. Every choice burns, and if she cannot reconcile the hatred she carries with the magic that defines her, she may ignite the very war she was destined to prevent. Where The Fire Burns is a spellbinding debut of resilience, betrayal, and the fierce light that survives where darkness reigns.