The first in a planned romantasy series perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas’s Court of Thorns and Roses and Clarissa Broadbent’s Crowns of Nyaxia. Rune Ryker is a human living in a world where druids hold all the cards. Tired of being on the losing end she enters their dangerous Selection, hoping to find her abducted family and take revenge on those responsible. Instead, she meets druid Prince Draven and is enraged to discover he’s not only the asshole she expected but well aware of her hidden agenda. Forced to assimilate with the druids, Rune is surrounded by enemies at the Forge, a college that teaches the Selected tarot magic to become pawns of their empire. Chosen by the rarest tarot, the World, her hopes for vengeance, reunification, and survival plummet. Only Prince Draven has ever mastered it, and he’s not exactly interested in playing teacher. With his haughty attitude, Draven is the last person Rune wants to beg for help. Yet when she saves his life, he begrudgingly offers to train her...for a price. If she fakes an engagement with him to end his betrothal, he’ll teach her the power to change her fate and find her family. As they spend more time together, Rune fights her growing attraction to him, needled by their banter and his secret desire to change the world. As Rune struggles to learn her new power and keep up their relationship’s masquerade, she grows closer to the truth about who is responsible for her missing family. But with her and Draven’s pasts unraveling, she must choose between following her heart and watching her back.

Publication Year: 2025