Everspire is freezing to death—politely. The Chancellor's new ration scheme buys bread with blood, and winter sharpens into policy. Liora Thimble binds honest, everyday vows—return the shovel; feed the cat; check the center of the stone—but this crisis asks for a bigger stitch. Enter Kael, the Crown's quiet emissary whose touch can turn breath to frost. Their solution is outrageous and simple: a consent-first bond, rules written in ink and kindness, and a promise to never spend gestures they don't need.

To reopen the city's Compact, they must satisfy two old powers: the Tide-Bearer who values humility and the Northwind who insists on truth. Markets, masked feasts, and storm-dark river crossings test their touch-lexicon—wrist to wrist to steady, palm to palm to brave, two taps to stop—as much as their hearts. When a factory's Quiet machine braids a thousand tiny coercions into policy, Liora chooses the needle over the sword and re-ties the city to itself with honest oaths instead of blood.

As winter bends and the streets relearn mercy, Liora and Kael face the bravest choice of all—ending the public vow and keeping what matters in private. Oathbinder is a tender, fiercely practical romantasy about naming hunger, practicing warmth, and choosing love like you keep a city: together, on purpose.

★★★★★