The Ballad of Phoenix and Monsters

In a kingdom ruled by dark magic, Deneb strikes a bargain to save her mother: kill the Crown Prince, Varkein, and the Dark Prince Aedan will grant her the countercurse.
But at the royal feast, everything unravels. Varkein isn’t the heartless tyrant she imagined—yet she stabs him anyway. Captured by his guardians, she begs him to let her go. “I swear I’ll return. And my life will be yours.”
She does return—but with vengeance burning in her veins.
Her mother is dead, murdered by Aedan. Now Deneb vows to destroy him: to slay his seven monsters, reduce his obsidian castle to rubble, and slit his throat.
The only path to Aedan’s stronghold is through Scathmore’s Tournament, where fifty contenders battle monsters and cursed magic to the death. To survive, Deneb forges uneasy alliances… while Varkein waits in the shadows.
Betrayed and possessive, the Crown Prince intends to claim what she owes him—her life, her loyalty, and maybe her heart.
Vengeance has a price.
And in Scathmore, love may be the deadliest trap of all.