Elias Vance's father forged him to be a weapon. A brilliant scientist with a mind like a steel trap and a heart encased in ice, all built on his father's ruthless creed: be the first, or you are nothing.
A single act of defiance leaves him disowned and shattered, forcing him to survive in a world he never learnt to understand. Haunted by the women who tried to breach his walls-one who loved the poet he hid and another who rejected the man he was-he must confront the truth: the most brutal cage was not his father's house but his mind.
From the punishing heights of academia to the quiet sanctuary of an old-world apothecary, Elias begins his most dangerous experiment. He must learn to dissect his own past and alchemise a lifetime of pain into a single drop of peace.
You never let me be anything but a mirror of your ambition. You taught me discipline and resilience, but you never taught me how to be okay with failing. Or feeling. Can a man who learnt that emotions were a fatal flaw discover the secret to healing his own soul?