The Witch King demands a bride, and Avelmere gives him its youngest princess. Rowan Avelmere walks into the throne room expecting a monster and offers herself instead, and the candles of the entire hall bend toward her when she speaks. She has hidden what she is for years, a hedge-witch's gift she thought was a curse. The Witch King needs exactly what she carries: a bloodline the gods bred to be their leash, a will strong enough to anchor the stolen fire he has been carrying for 60 years, a bride who can keep him human while the gods try to take the fire back.
But the gods do not want the fire returned. They want the world culled. And the priest who tells Rowan she can end the curse with 3 drops of blood is lying, because ending the curse ends the world. The only way out is the old spell, the one hidden in a sealed book with her family's name on it, and the spell will cost her half of everything she is. Between a sister who has come to free her and a king she has begun to love, Rowan must find the third door where everyone insists there are only 2, and she must walk through it carrying a dying goddess's spark and a heart that is no longer entirely her own. The gods are watching. The candles are too. And the price of the only door that does not end the world is written in her own blood.
Inside this dark fantasy romance, you'll discover:
— A marriage of convenience between a feared king and the witch who refuses to be his victim
— A heroine who finds a third door where everyone insists there are only 2
— A slow-burn love story in a black stone citadel where even the candles have secrets
— A sealed book, an old spell, and a choice between saving 1 man and saving the world
— A goddess's dying spark hidden in a mortal child, and the cost of giving it away
Because some thrones are taken with armies, and some are taken with a woman who says no to gods.

Lauren Ashford

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