The Honest Mark Book Three of The Unbroken Mark

"Lords build thrones. We hold the ceiling."

Winter is descending upon the Iron Ridge, and the liberated subterranean haven of Chainbreak faces a threat far deadlier than quarry overseers: starvation.

Cut off from the grain markets of Veladhur by ruthless Council embargoes, the surviving laborers must trade their mountain iron, cedar timber, and deep-mined salt with the free agrarian communes of the Starview Basin. But at Red Spruce Crossing, the Grand Syndicate's yellow-coated factors have dropped the toll gates-clutching extortionate debt liens, mercenary crossbows, and debased silver.

To defend the working folk, veteran hauler Danek, master archer Milicent, the gentle half-orc Grok, and the scarred ditch-priest Grimslam strike their own standard of value: The Honest Mark. Struck from pure river silver and mountain star-iron, it is a coin that cannot be shaved, counterfeit, or manipulated by oligarchs.

When mercenary arbalests ambush the midnight convoy at the frozen boundary culvert, the cost of freedom becomes shattering. Faced with catastrophic loss, Milicent must step into her father's harness, bind grief with star-iron, and prove the unyielding creed of the Commonwealth:

No living being is rubble for another.