The Ashthorn Bargain

She had nine copper coins, a dying sister, and one thing left worth selling.

Nerys Calloway was the best oathwright of her generation until the Collegium stripped her seal. Now she reads illegal bindings in back rooms for a crown a time, while the silver script under her sister's skin climbs towards her heart — a debt Nerys never made, on an instrument nobody will let her read.

The answer lies beyond the Thornwall, in the hands of the enemy.

Vaelen the Hollow has held that wall for a hundred years. He broke an oath once and it cost him his name, his magic and any hope of dying. He has no mercy left to give and no ability to lie — which makes him the most dangerous kind of honest. When a soaked, penniless human woman walks up to his gate and offers him seven years of her life, he takes the bargain. He also takes something neither of them agreed to: a tether that binds them within a mile of each other and makes every hurt a shared one.

They have one winter to find the flaw in a century-old treaty written in blood.

Because the wall is dying. Because two kingdoms have been lying about why. And because the oldest clause in the instrument says that when the debt is called, somebody has to pay it in the flesh — and Nerys already knows whose name is written there.

She just hasn't told him yet.

THE ASHTHORN BARGAIN is a standalone romantasy of slow-burn enemies-to-lovers, court intrigue and a magic system built on blood debts and broken oaths. Dual POV. No cliffhanger. Perfect for readers of morally grey love interests, forced proximity, only-one-bargain, and heroines who win with a pen instead of a sword.

Nothing is given. Everything is lent.

📖 324 pages