

Rock bottom hits Elio—he comes out and has a wild night with mysterious heir James. Back at work for revenge on his bullies, everyone suddenly thinks he's the secret heir. James sticks close, pretending to be just another employee—turning up the heat with every brush of tension. Who's really in charge? And who did Elio actually sleep with that night?

Tyrese Mayer is a prodigy of Blueland until his own cousin Jody Hodson covets his kirin Bone and conspires to have him stripped and thrown into the Beastgrave. At the bottom, nearly dead, he finds a dying black beast and seals an ancient blood bond with it. The beast is a Voracity cub, a primordial devourer from myth, capable of consuming anything and converting it into power it feeds back to Tyrese. They survive the tomb by eating everything sent to kill them: demon beasts, pursuers, whatever comes. Tyrese rebuilds his body, awakens abilities he wasn’t born with, and the cub he names Baemon grows stronger with every meal. When he walks back out, it isn’t to flee. It’s to settle every account, dismantle every lie, and let the sect learn exactly what they threw away.