The Stars Between Us

Seventeen-year-old Cassian Lorne is used to pressure. As Desert Line High's star shooting guard, he knows how to stay calm when the clock is dying, the crowd is screaming, and everyone expects him to save the game. But when his game-winning shot freezes on the rim before falling, Cassian realizes his talent may not be talent at all.

It may be Libra.

Cassian is Libra-born, heir to a cosmic bloodline his mother has spent his entire life trying to hide. In secret, the Zodiac Houses still exist, and Libra's ancient failure still haunts them all: long ago, after Aries broke Libra's heart, Libra dropped the Scales of Heaven and shattered balance across the world.

Ari Vale has known that story her whole life. As an Aries-born track star, she was raised to fear Libra, distrust his balance, and never let a Scale-born boy near her fire. But Cassian does not know the rules. He does not know the war. And he definitely does not know that the dark essence of Scorpio has awakened, hunting him through secrets, buried crimes, and every injustice Libra left behind.

When the first broken fragment of the Scales calls to them through the unsolved murder of a forgotten track athlete, Cassian and Ari are forced into an uneasy alliance. To survive, Cassian must learn that balance is not silence, Ari must learn that fire is not surrender, and both must decide whether the stars are repeating an ancient tragedy - or giving them the chance to end it.

The Stars Between Us is a YA contemporary romantasy. It blends zodiac mythology, forbidden romance, high school sports, mystery, and cosmic fantasy in a story about grief, justice, identity, and the dangerous hope of choosing differently than the stars expect.