Nobody in the Reach has ever known Yeva Sarn to break her word.

She says a thing aloud and the world rearranges itself to make it true. A bridge holds. A debt is paid. A man walks home who should not have. Six trade roads and two thousand miles of caravan credit rest on oaths she has sworn, and not one has ever failed — because out here there is no law, no crown and no court. There is only what people promised.

The oaths are coming loose now. Yeva has been sent to find out why, with instructions one line long: fix nothing, promise no one.

So her job is to walk into rooms full of desperate people, understand exactly what they need, and say no.