Echoes of the Iron Wood

Two enemies bound by a single, unbreakable curse. One deadly forest that wants to consume them both. Ash is a disgraced knight of the Silvered Rose. Stripped of his honor and cast out of his city, he attempts one final, desperate heist to clear his name. He breaks into the High Prelate's vault to steal the Heart of the Weaving, an ancient relic of immense power. Sylvan is an exiled shapeshifter of the Iron Wood.
Banished by his own pack, he breaches the very same vault to return the stolen relic to the earth. When their blood accidentally mingles upon the stone, a catastrophic ancient magic is triggered. Ash and Sylvan are violently bound together by a glowing tether of silver magic. If they move more than ten paces apart, the curse will burn them alive. Trapped together, the stoic knight and the feral beast must flee into the suffocating depths of the Iron Wood.
It is a primeval labyrinth of hallucinogenic swamps, mutated predators, and ancient rot. To survive, they must overcome their bitter hatred and learn to fight as a single entity. But the forest is not their only enemy. Ash's former commander is marching into the wood with a legion of heavily armored knights. The commander seeks to use the stolen relic to petrify the entire forest, transforming the chaotic wild into an empire of dead stone.
To stop the apocalypse and sever their cursed bond, Ash and Sylvan must march into the deepest, darkest roots of the world. They will have to sacrifice everything they know, and they will discover that the most dangerous magic in the Iron Wood is the terrifying trust forging between them. Perfect for fans of gritty survival fantasy, enemies-to-allies romance, and dark, atmospheric world-building.