Cogs of the Forgotten sun — Celine Claire

The empire of Vaelstrith is dying.Once, the great Clockwork Sun—a colossal, floating sphere of brass and burning aether—bathed the land in perpetual golden light. But now, its gears grind slower each year, plunging the world into longer nights and creeping frost. The aristocracy hoards the last reserves of liquid aether, while the undercities drown in smog and rebellion.Kestrel d'Malvoir, a disgraced scholar turned thief, survives in the rusting underbelly of the capital, stealing ancient artifacts for the highest bidder. But when she's hired to retrieve a living key—a child with clockwork veins and no memory—she uncovers a conspiracy that could doom or save them all.The child, Lucian, is the last remnant of the Forgotten Sun Cult, a heretical sect that once claimed the Clockwork Sun was not a machine… but a god. And it is waking up.Now hunted by the Iron Inquisition, aided only by a cynical alchemist and a half-mad engineer, Kestrel must decide whether to reignite the dying Sun—or let the world freeze in the dark.But some truths are better left buried. Because if the Sun truly is alive, why did it stop burning in the first place?