She was born to be hunted.
He was raised to hunt her.
A dark romantic fantasy where being yourself may be the most dangerous defiance of all.
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After a lifetime of hiding, would you choose
to belong in the wrong place?
She is on death row. Not as a convict, she works there. Or better yet, she hides—pretending to be human because she comes from a mixed bloodline the ruling mancer elite nearly erased. All she wants is a place where she can be her true self. But in Levedia, only the pure and the powerful are granted that privilege. Sometimes, even they aren't.When the realm is threatened by an awakening enemy, she becomes the key to preventing the destruction of the elemental barrier that keeps everyone alive. To save her loved ones, she reluctantly joins forces with an elite aeromancer raised to uphold the very system that rejects her.
He has status, power, and a fatal charm that is as vexing as his veiled reasons for agreeing to protect her. So naturally, she can't trust him.But as their dangerous attraction threatens their mission, she must decide whether allowing herself to be fully known, at least by him, is worth the risk—and he must choose between the world that made him powerful and the woman who makes him brave enough to defy it.A dark romantic fantasy of a forbidden love that challenges an oppressive system.

ZITA CARLO | Dark Fantasy Author

If you’re here, you probably use reading or writing as an escape. I’m no different. I picked up a pen to draw when I was five and finished writing my first illustrated trilogy at twelve. Art has always been both my refuge and compass: a way to make sense of life, and a way to survive it.When I ditched my respectable translation job and master’s degree to pursue writing as, you know, an actual career, my family let out a collective uproar that sounded an awful lot like you’ll be another starving artist. If we disregard my occasional 24-hour fasts, I’ve made a living from my words for over a decade—and in 2022, I gave myself permission to write the story I wanted most. The one you’re about to discover.I write dark romantic fantasy with morally complex heroes and antagonists. My debut novel will be the first of a planned six-book series.When I’m not lost in my imagination, you’ll find me doing yoga or CrossFit, or traveling somewhere wild with my husband, collecting experiences that inevitably find their way back onto the page.
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