The Architect of Desires (The Nalagareng Saga)

"I do not merely carve the stone; I conquer the spirit within. And if the world dares to steal my masterpiece, I will hunt it across seven centuries of death." In the 11th-century Kingdom of Medang Kamulan, Nalagareng is a man of granite and grit—the most feared and revered sculptor in the land. When the legendary King Airlangga summons him to build the sacred Petirtaan Belahan, Nala demands an impossible price: total dominion over the site and the King’s most prized consorts, Dyah Ayu and Dyah Arum, to be his sole muses. In the savage, untamed wilderness of Mount Pawitra, the King’s law is dead. There is only the Law of the Sculptor. Nala strips away their royal luxuries and shatters their gold, breaking these noblewomen down until they are as raw as the stone itself. But Nala’s art is a dangerous form of dark mysticism; every strike of his mallet binds their souls to the andesite, igniting a forbidden heat that threatens to consume them all. As the masterpiece nears completion, a terrifying vision strikes: Seven hundred years in the future, his "Goddesses" will be looted by pale-skinned men and displayed like war trophies in a cold museum in Leiden. Driven by a primal rage, Nala carves a forbidden mantra into the heart of the stone, vowing to be reborn to reclaim what is rightfully his. Seven centuries later, a man haunted by phantom memories stands before a glass display in the Netherlands. The statues of Dewi Sri and Laksmi appear to weep. The Architect has returned—and he will shatter modern laws to bring his queens back to Javanese soil.