Book excerpt: Humans now live in a super greenhouse. Seas have risen. Oceans have acidified. And the fight for resources is deadly. To ensure nothing of this magnitude ever happens again, only those with enough intelligence and heart will earn the right to bear children and heal the earth. Nine teens must face the tests of the Proving to decide who will be Bound to this new order. Four of them will challenge the system in ways even they can't imagine. Nova. The gentle soul who has everything to lose. Kian. The champion of this new world who's determined to succeed. Dex. The one who'll learn nothing is as it seems. Wren. The rebel who wants nothing to do with any of it. As the fight to breed becomes a fight to survive, rules are broken, and hearts are captured. This Proving won't just decide the future of this new order, it will decide the future of humankind.