The Profiler's Apostasy

In the Meridian Republic, brilliant criminal profiler Dorian Ash is summoned to investigate Bishop Aldric Vane, accused of serially assaulting nuns within the Order of the Sacred Veil. Dorian’s cold logic constructs a meticulous portrait of a predator exploiting sacred authority. But as he immerses himself in the bishop’s twisted theology and the victims’ trauma, his empathy mutates into dangerous identification. Reason, his last fortress, crumbles against a tide of ecstatic madness. When the final arrest nears, Dorian makes an unthinkable choice—abetting the bishop’s escape and embracing a new, unchained identity. Logic was the final line; against the gale of fervent emotion, it proved thinner than paper.