Vows in the House of Ash

When cathedral restorer Elara Vale discovers her late father owed a fortune to the city’s most feared dynasty, she is summoned to Ashbourne House and offered a bargain: marry Lucien Ashborne, the reclusive heir with blood on his hands, or watch her younger sister disappear into the debt’s cruel machinery. Elara agrees, planning to survive the marriage long enough to uncover the truth behind her father’s ruin and escape with the one person she still loves.

Lucien does not want a wife, least of all one who looks at him as if he is both monster and mystery. Bound by an inheritance curse, a family conspiracy, and a secret identity buried beneath years of violence, he keeps Elara close for reasons he refuses to confess. But Ashbourne House is full of locked doors, old portraits, and servants who whisper warnings after midnight.

As desire turns into obsession and hatred into dangerous trust, Elara learns her marriage is not the prison she feared. It is the key to a grave someone is willing to kill to keep closed.