To the wealthy elite of the galaxy, Aurum Astra is a utopian paradise of golden lights and luxury. To the assets branded with its cruel golden Sigil and locked inside its metallic belly, it is a beautifully engineered mass grave.

Jace was a prince until the Council put a gun to his moon's head and dragged him into a rigged, overengineered circus of death. Empathic, volatile, and burning with a dangerous inner light, Jace refuses to let this gilded cage break him. But the rules of the arena are designed to crush everyone; even royalty.

Then he meets Subject Zero.

Zen is a lethal prototype designed solely for destruction, currently flagged on a god's personal kill-list. He is everything Jace should fear. Yet, behind a glowing partition of glass, Zen does the one thing Jace never expected: he makes the captive prince feel safe. Beneath the weight of Zen's dark, commanding words, Jace finds a dangerous, addictive sanctuary.

But out here, hope is a liability. Every heartbeat is tracked down to the millimeter, corporate handlers are watching, and a rogue digital ghost is pulling strings from inside the machine.

As midnight approaches and the arena floor prepares for blood, a fragile alliance forms in the dark. But in a game where the house always wins, how do you save the people you love when there is nowhere left to run?