In an empire ruled by ancient vampire houses, blood determines who holds power, who obeys, and who is sacrificed.
When the Red Curia reinstates the Blood Levy and summons her sixteen-year-old son, Cassia Riven refuses to surrender him. Her attempt to bring him home places her in the path of Marcus Valerius, commander of the empire’s armies and the last surviving heir of an ancient bloodline.
Marcus needs what no vampire woman can give him: a living heir. Cassia needs what only a man with his power can offer: protection for her sons.
Their bargain binds her to House Valerius for two years. She will become his wife and give him the chance to continue his bloodline. In return, her children will remain beyond the reach of the Levy.
But what begins as a transaction soon becomes far more dangerous. Desire grows where hatred should have remained, while beyond the walls of House Valerius, an ancient house has fallen, rebellion is spreading through the human districts, and someone inside the empire is helping its enemies.
The closer Cassia is drawn to Marcus, the more difficult it becomes to separate the monster she was taught to fear from the man she is beginning to trust. And with the empire starting to fracture around them, that trust may prove more dangerous than either of them imagined.
For readers who like their vampire romance dark, political, and dangerous. Expect an ancient vampire commander and a fiercely protective human widow, enemies to lovers, a marriage of convenience, a morally grey possessive hero who falls first, deadly court politics in an Ancient Rome-inspired vampire empire, a slow emotional build, and high-heat open-door romance.
Genre: Paranormal Romance
When the Red Curia reinstates the Blood Levy and summons her sixteen-year-old son, Cassia Riven refuses to surrender him. Her attempt to bring him home places her in the path of Marcus Valerius, commander of the empire’s armies and the last surviving heir of an ancient bloodline.
Marcus needs what no vampire woman can give him: a living heir. Cassia needs what only a man with his power can offer: protection for her sons.
Their bargain binds her to House Valerius for two years. She will become his wife and give him the chance to continue his bloodline. In return, her children will remain beyond the reach of the Levy.
But what begins as a transaction soon becomes far more dangerous. Desire grows where hatred should have remained, while beyond the walls of House Valerius, an ancient house has fallen, rebellion is spreading through the human districts, and someone inside the empire is helping its enemies.
The closer Cassia is drawn to Marcus, the more difficult it becomes to separate the monster she was taught to fear from the man she is beginning to trust. And with the empire starting to fracture around them, that trust may prove more dangerous than either of them imagined.
For readers who like their vampire romance dark, political, and dangerous. Expect an ancient vampire commander and a fiercely protective human widow, enemies to lovers, a marriage of convenience, a morally grey possessive hero who falls first, deadly court politics in an Ancient Rome-inspired vampire empire, a slow emotional build, and high-heat open-door romance.
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Used availability for Lavinia Calina's The Blood Levy