First published 2026
Owein crosses the ocean to marry Lady Cora of Leiningen, the woman he has loved through years of correspondence. Their wedding plans shatter when Queen Victoria intercepts the centuries-old wizard upon his arrival in England. The queen wants to preserve magic at any cost and sees Owein as crucial to her schemes. She separates him from Cora and conscripts him into the Queen's League of Magicians. Cora refuses to accept this theft of her future. She turns her magical abilities toward exposing the secrets Victoria guards so carefully. Owein discovers that his forced recruitment represents just the first move in a larger game. Ancient beings more powerful than himself enter the conflict. Former lovers resurface to complicate his choices. New magical forces awaken around him. He faces an impossible decision between two forms of destruction: surrender his heart, body, and magical powers to the Crown's corrupt plans, or commit treason and face the consequences of defying the throne.
Genres: romance, historical-fiction, fantasy, dark-fantasy, fantasy-romance, historical-fantasy
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, dramatic, emotional, romantic, suspenseful
Tropes: forced-proximity, impossible-choice, political-conflict, second-chance-romance, separated-lovers
Setting: England, Leiningen
Period: 19th-century, Victorian era
299 pages · Paperback · 47North
Content warnings: death, violence