Shadow's Fate

Aurelia is the only child of the head of the noble House Marszalek, and has spent most of her eighteen years locked in her bedroom from sundown to sunup, hiding a beastly secret to protect her father’s reputation. Kasper dutifully leads the band of thieves known as Shadow’s Bastion–alleged to be the most vicious criminals in the city of Skala, thanks to a collection of rumors and half-truths spread by the Shadows themselves to keep people looking in the wrong direction.

A jewel heist gone awry puts Kasper and his team at the mercy of the young head of House Zuraw, Tytus, who coerces him into participating in a staged kidnapping scheme to help him win Aurelia’s hand in marriage. Auri, however, sees this as a perfect opportunity to escape her father’s clutches and live life on her own terms, leaving Kasper stuck striking ill-advised bargains with a lonely dragon, a mob boss’s son, and Aurelia herself to fulfill his end of the deal with Tytus and get the rest of his crew back unharmed.

In a realm haunted by incomprehensible gods and monsters, with Auri’s previously well-kept secret complicating matters, the thief and the noble have to learn to trust each other–and fast–if either of them are going to get what they want.

The hard part is figuring out exactly what that is.

Shadow's Fate is an upper YA/new adult romantic fantasy, most appropriate for ages 15 and up. 

FEATURES:

• Approximately 88,000 words
• Third person, dual POV storytelling (with a third POV here and there)
• Slavic myth and monsters
• Robin Hood cosplaying as the Grim Reaper
• Part-time PR manager, part-time comic relief sidekick
• Shapeshifting beast girl who is way too chill about getting kidnapped
• (Sym)Pathetic villain
• Nonbinary dragon with a personality halfway between a housecat and third grader
• Catgirl and her magic-sniffing rat
• A very good doggo

A Note On Content: While this is a fantasy story set in a fantasy world, it does contain scenes and discussions of very real things such as child neglect and emotional abuse, kidnapping, poverty and classism, violence, blood, and death, as well as characters that struggle with the loss of loved ones, past trauma, and anxiety/panic attacks. Read at your discretion.