Renee Stevens

The Crown Heir of Volturia carries a terrible secret.

Two years ago, Wynn was sent north to quell a rebellion. He succeeded—but at a devastating cost. Now, he must evade the vengeful monster that haunts his every step while participating in the Matching, where he's expected to choose his future queen.

But when the Liberated—commoners seeking justice—begin executing nobles one by one, Volturia's fragile peace shatters. As the palace finds itself under siege, Wynn faces an impossible choice. The Liberated's fury seems justified, yet yielding to their demands could destroy the kingdom he's sworn to protect.

With justice and vengeance closing in from all sides, Wynn must decide whether to confess his guilt or continue his deception—before he loses his kingdom, his soul, and his chance at redemption and love.

Perfect for fans of Brigid Kemmerer and Leigh Bardugo, this spellbinding tale blends political intrigue, dark magic, and unexpected romance where your greatest enemy might be the darkness lurking within.

I hesitate to commit these events to paper, knowing that what I must relate will strain the credulity of any rational mind. Yet conscience compels me to bear witness, for silence serves only those forces that thrive in darkness.

— From the papers of Dr. James Michaels, 1905

It began with a patient who should not have survived. Marcus Anglethorpe arrived at St. Augustine's Asylum speaking a name that made my blood run cold, though I could not say why. In fifteen years of treating troubled minds, I had never encountered anything like what I witnessed in that man—yet it was not his physical affliction that disturbed me most, but the terrible certainty in his eyes.

When Thomas Blackwood came to investigate for Lloyd's of London, he brought evidence that turned my ordered world to chaos. Miss Patricia Wells, a nurse whose expertise in classical languages proved invaluable, became our anchor to sanity even as the very foundations of reality seemed to shift beneath our feet.

What we discovered in those desperate weeks challenged not only our understanding of the natural world, but the bonds between human souls. For in the face of something ancient and implacably patient, we learned that love itself might be both our salvation and our most terrible vulnerability.

The Mediterranean keeps its secrets well. But some secrets, once glimpsed, demand to be told.