Wella Larksong has always known there was something strange about her music.At nineteen, she is a foundling earning her keep by playing old songs in a village tavern, until one night the candles bend toward her violin and her eyes flash silver. Days later, the Lumenguard arrive with an impossible claim:Wella is the new Nightingale.Born with rare starblood, she is the only musician powerful enough to renew the Great Veil—the ancient wardsong separating her world from the broken realm known as the Sundering.Taken to Hallowmoon Spire, Wella is placed under the watch of Guard-Captain Chaim Ashsong, a brilliant, guarded soldier whose mother was the last Nightingale to climb the Spire nineteen years ago.She never came back down.As Wella trains to perform the deadly Hymn of Ascension, she discovers that Hallowmoon's traditions are built on secrets. The Veil is weakening far faster than anyone admits. The creatures slipping through its wounds may not be monsters at all. And hidden records suggest Chaim's mother was sent into her final Hymn without knowing the truth.At the center of it all is the beloved Archchancellor Vermillion, whose gentle smile hides nineteen years of stolen starlight and a plan that may require Wella to repeat Elowen's fate.With the Veil collapsing and the Sundering pressing closer, Wella must decide whether to trust three centuries of sacred tradition—or break every rule Hallowmoon has ever followed.Because perhaps the Hymn was never meant to be sung alone.And perhaps the man who has spent half his life afraid to love another Nightingale is the only person who can help her survive it.A sweeping romantic fantasy of starblood magic, forbidden love, ancient secrets, dangerous music, and two people who discover that some burdens were never meant to be carried by one heart alone.