Hearts of Obsidian TENDER

Book 3

Iris Blackwood knows how to make things grow. It's people she struggles with especially since losing Maya in the attack that stranded them on an alien world. She's been going through the motions, doing her work, keeping her grief close like armor. She doesn't need anyone to save her. She just needs to be left alone.

Thalir has always been different from his warrior brothers. Softer. Gentler. More interested in healing than fighting. In a culture that values strength above all else, he's learned to make himself small, useful, invisible. He doesn't expect to resonate—not to anyone, and certainly not to a human woman still wearing her wedding ring.

But the resonance doesn't care about timing. It doesn't care about grief or unworthiness or impossible circumstances.

When they're assigned to work together on a critical food sustainability project, Iris finds herself drawn to the quiet healer who notices everything—including the pain she tries so hard to hide. And Thalir discovers that the woman he never dared hope for might just see him as something precious.

But opening her heart means confronting everything she lost. And believing he's worthy means unlearning a lifetime of rejection.

Two quiet souls. Two wounded hearts. One chance to grow something beautiful from the ashes.

TENDER is Book Three in the Hearts of Obsidian series, featuring a gentle hero, a grieving heroine finding love again, explicit intimate scenes, and a guaranteed happily ever after.