Chamber of the Heart-Orb - Mark Bullock

Ria Vance has always been "too much." Her magic doesn't hum; it roars. It is a volatile, copper-fire energy that shatters glassware and makes nearby hearts skip a beat. After a lifetime of being told she is a danger to everyone she touches, Ria is recruited to the House of Orbs-a sentient, subterranean fortress of obsidian and glass where thousands of human lives are preserved in fragile, baseball-sized spheres. Here, she must learn the Architecture of Silence, or risk becoming the very disaster she fears.

But the House is not the sanctuary it seems. As Ria struggles to dampen her frantic resonance, she finds herself caught between two opposing forces. There is Thorne Alistair, the Lead Keeper whose mind is a rigid fortress of steel and iron, and Sloane Vane, a clinical strategist who believes the only way to save the House is to strip the emotion-and the humanity-out of magic entirely. While they argue over containment protocols and silicon grafts, a shadowy entity known as the Vespera begins to bleed through the walls, turning the golden heartbeats of the residents into cold, hollow grey.

As the orbs begin to flicker and die, Ria realizes that the "silence" her mentors demand is exactly what the darkness needs to feed. To save the Heart-Orb and the thousands of souls tethered to it, Ria must embrace the fire in her marrow. She must bridge the gap between Thorne's iron discipline and her own chaotic light to confront the grief that anchors the darkness. In a world built on glass, the only way to survive a shattering is to become the light that shines through the cracks.

A Unique Magic System: Dive into a world where magic is measured in hertz and heartbeats, and where emotional vulnerability is both a fatal flaw and a world-saving weapon.

Tense, Character-Driven Conflict: Witness the "grumpy-vs-sunshine" dynamic between the rigid Thorne and the high-voltage Ria as they fight for the soul of their home.

Immersive World-Building: Explore the Corridor of Whispers and the Shattered Gallery, brought to life with vivid, tactile imagery of molten gold and obsidian.

High-Stakes Mystery: Uncover the truth behind the Vespera and why the House is truly beginning to fail.

Perfect for fans of The Night Circus and Gideon the Ninth, Chamber of the Heart-Orb is a lyrical journey into the beauty of human imperfection.

Step into the Chamber. Feel the rhythm. Buy your copy of the Ria Vance Series Book 1 today!