An Ember in the Ashes

A fantasy with a dark tone the setting is a training facility within a militaristic society where there is little empathy, slaves and trainees alike are cruelly punished, the penalty for desertion being flailed to death, lesser crimes lead to slaves being disfigured or losing hands. There are two central characters: Laia who enters the training camp as a slave to spy on its Commandant who is the unfeeling mother of the Elias, a reluctant trainee whose best friend Helene is the only other female in the camp. Elias encounters jealousy when he pays attention to the slave whose handler on the outside is red-haired Keenan described as shorter but muscular. Hence a potential for two love triangles.