Yulia Farislan woke up as the villainous princess in a world that felt like a fantasy game she once obsessed over. Her fate was already written—execution, exile, or worse. But when her “punishment” sends her straight into the Dark Temple as a sacrifice to a sleeping Black Dragon, something goes very wrong. The dragon doesn’t kill her. He silences the voices in his head. For the first time in centuries… the world goes quiet. And he decides he’s keeping her. Not as prey. Not as a sacrifice. But as something far more dangerous—his. Now trapped in the domain of Caerus, the god-slaying Black Dragon feared even by the heavens, Yulia discovers the truth: The gods are not watching. The heroes are not coming. And the monster she was sent to die to… might be the only one who ever saw her as real.

“You will lose,” Balian Draven said lightly, as if discussing weather instead of fate.“Humans do not fall in love with monsters on command.” Rothgar did not answer immediately. Because monsters, in his experience, always fell in love first. With power. With fear. With inevitability. And humans? Humans always followed. “Define loss,” Rothgar finally said. Balian smiled. “A hundred women,” he said. “Six months. One proposal each. They must say yes willingly.” A pause. Then, amused: “No possession. No coercion. No tricks from the Abyss.” That last part made something in Rothgar’s expression sharpen—barely. “I do not need tricks,” he said. Balian leaned forward slightly. “Good. Then we have a wager.”

Evangeline Sol crossed the Gate of Acheron with blood on her hands and death at her heels. Desperate to save her dying sister, Eva descends into the frozen Underworld to bargain with the one being mortals fear more than death itself — Acheron, the ancient God of Souls. Cold, merciless, and untouchable, he rules a kingdom of ash and silence where no living heart dares to beat. But the moment his gloved hand brushes her skin, everything begins to unravel. She does not turn to ash. Instead, the God of Death feels something he has not felt in ten thousand years: warmth.

At Noctis Academy, the empire does not train students. It creates weapons. After her father is executed for treason, Evelyn Valehart survives by becoming invisible. Quiet girls live longer in royal kingdoms. Especially at Noctis Academy— the empire’s brutal gothic war institution where noble heirs learn strategy, magic, and how to kill without hesitation. Evelyn arrives with nothing except: a scholarship, her dead father’s encrypted journal, and a dangerous suspicion that the empire buried something monstrous beneath the academy cathedral. She does not expect to attract the attention of Lucien Mordane. The crown prince. The empire’s most feared war heir. The boy whispered about in candlelit corridors like a curse. Cold. Untouchable. Violent. Students fear him enough to lower their eyes when he walks past. But Evelyn notices something nobody else does: Lucien looks exhausted. As political conspiracies tighten around Noctis and students begin disappearing beneath the academy, Evelyn uncovers terrifying truths about forbidden shadow rituals, dead royal heirs, and the horrifying experiments that transformed Lucien into something more weapon than human. The closer she gets to the truth— the closer Lucien gets to her. And the empire’s perfect prince begins unraveling in dangerous ways: watching her too closely, sleeping outside her door, threatening anyone who touches her, losing control whenever she’s hurt. Because Evelyn becomes the first person to look at Lucien Mordane and see: not a monster. Just a boy taught his entire life that love was weakness. But some kingdoms are built on blood. Some princes are born to destroy empires. And some love stories are less about salvation— and more about choosing who you’re willing to ruin the world for.