Description:
The first in a romantic gaslamp fantasy series from author Melissa Wright.
Nimona Weston has a debt to pay.
Her father's dealings with the dark society known as the Trust cost Nim her freedom. There's one way out of the contract on her life and that's to bide her time and pay the tithes. But when the Trust assigns Nim to a task in the king's own castle, her freedom is not the only thing she'll risk.
Warrick Spenser has a secret.
As king's seneschal, he should be the last soul in Inara to risk association with dark magic, but long-hidden ties to the Trust are harder to shed than simply cutting the threads. When the Trust sends a thief to his rooms, Warrick thinks he's finally found a way to be rid of them for good. But Nimona Weston is hiding secrets of her own.
Magical contracts, blood-debt accountants, and a deadly game. An epic fantasy with regency flair, an improper and slightly stabby heroine with a penchant for trouble, swoony slow burn romance, and a dark and twisty plot that pits magic against kings, love against power, and a gothic underworld against a kingdom desperate to survive.
Brief description: Melissa is the author of more than a dozen YA and fantasy novels including The Frey Saga and Between Ink and Shadows. When not writing she can generally be found talking about a book, painting something from a book, or tucked between headphones listening to a book. It's kind of a theme. She loves reasonable heroines in unreasonable situations, noble--if brooding--heroes, slow burn and sweet kisses, a lot of havoc, and a little magic.