WAYBOUND

Every 600 years, the blazing Waybound Comet heralds the ancient marriage championships of the Spirit Realm, where champions and bachelors marked by the comet’s light compete for alliances that bind nations.

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Idhaya Rai, a brilliant neuroscience student, never imagined her life would intertwine with this otherworldly rite. After risking her winter semester and waving her hospitalized father goodbye, she heads into a remote lab to assist her longtime idol, Dr. Artinos. But after a stormy glitch in the lab systems, Idhaya and her colleagues are forced to flee and land into the Spirit Realm, a land of beings Idhaya only read about in fairytales from all over the world. After failing to seek a way back to the Mortal Plane and her ailing father, the Waybound comet marks her as a champion in the championships—and seals her fate.

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Her only way home lies with Wu Jinhai, a powerful dragon prince from the East whose family holds the key to interdimensional travel—and is one of the Realm's six bachelors in the championships. To claim victory and Jinhai’s hand, Idhaya must navigate dangerous alliances, strict traditions, and a competition that demands her heart remain untangled. Growing closer to the enigmatic Jinhai, Idhaya learns more about the Wu family’s burden and the toll of living between worlds. What kind of life can she truly live?