In the underground civilization of Aethelgard, where humanity has hidden from sunlight for nearly a century to survive a photoreactive plague, pathologist Lucan Rhyse has spent his life searching for a cure -- driven by the disease that killed his mother and is slowly consuming his sister. When he discovers Mirelle Sorn, a fugitive immune to the plague whose blood could hold the key to saving thousands, their arrangement is simple: shelter in exchange for carefully measured samples. But Mirelle carries something else entirely -- a neurotoxic compound her body releases under stress, making physical contact between them potentially lethal. Every moment of closeness must be measured in seconds. Every touch is a choice made with full knowledge of its cost. As Lucan edges closer to a breakthrough, he uncovers a truth he cannot bring himself to tell her: the fastest path to saving thousands may require destroying everything that makes Mirelle who she is. And as Mirelle begins, against every instinct, to trust the one man whose research depends on her body, she must confront the question she has carried her entire life -- can someone who needs what you are made of ever truly choose who you are? A slow burn biopunk romance about the impossible distance between saving someone and owning them, set in a world where even love requires a countdown.