First published 2023
Drue Emmerson buried her family after shadow wraiths tore through her kingdom. Now she hunts dark creatures for a living, and she is very good at it. When someone she loves goes missing and all the evidence points to wraith involvement, she finds herself forced to work alongside Talemir Starling, a celebrated warrior with a reputation she does not trust. She has good reason. Talemir is half-wraith himself, kin to the creatures she has spent years destroying. He fights to keep that side of himself locked down, which is difficult enough without a woman nearby who has sworn to kill things like him. The two of them push into dangerous territory together, hunting answers neither wants the other to find first. The closer they get to the truth, the harder it becomes to maintain their mutual hostility. Something else is building between them, and it threatens both of them far more than any wraith. Drue wants his heart removed. Talemir wants to prove he deserves to keep it. This standalone entry in Helen Scheuerer's Mortal Enemies to Monster Lovers series delivers a tortured hero, a fierce heroine, and a slow-burn romance with real teeth.
Genres: romance, adventure, fantasy, dark-fantasy, fantasy-romance
Vibes: dark, emotional, gritty, intense, slow-burn
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, forbidden-love, forced-proximity, slow-burn-romance
Setting: Drue's kingdom
416 pages · Paperback · Alchemy
Content warnings: death, violence