King of Battle and Blood. Scarlett St. Clair. 2021.

“The Adrian who held me now carried his age within eyes, which were burdened by heartbreak, and I wondered if that was what had made this man a monster.”

Isolde De Lara considers her wedding day to be her death day. To end a years-long war and protect  the people of her kingdom, she is to marry the vampire king, Adrian Aleksandr Vasiliev, and kill him. 

But her assassination attempt is thwarted, and Adrian warns that if Isolde tries to kill him again, he will raise her as the undead. Faced with the possibility of becoming the thing she hates most, Isolde seeks other ways to defy him and survive the violence and political machinations of Adrian’s brutal vampire court.

Except it isn’t the court she ends up fearing the most - it’s Adrian and her intense attraction to him. Wrapped in mystery and a past he refuses to discuss, Adrian nevertheless starts to become less of a monster to Isolde. Despite their undeniable chemistry, Isolde can’t help but wonder why the king - fierce, complicated, ambitious, and at times inexplicably tender chose her as a consort.

The answer will shatter her world.