The Ash and the Viscount
By Unsprouted Bean
Genre: Historical Romantasy, Deception & Fate, Dark Romance, Enemies to Lovers. Setting: Year 1771 — The collision between the British Empire of the Age of Reason and the ancient island of Corvane. [WORLD SETTING] In the year 1771, the world was split into two opposing halves: On one side was the magnificent yet chilly British Empire: Where science, mathematics, machinery, and rationalism reigned supreme. In opulent tea rooms in Mayfair or behind closed doors in secret societies, people dismissed magic as mere savage superstition that needed to be eradicated. On the other side was Corvane Island, isolated in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean: Where the Ahtelan tribe lived in harmony with the vast wild forests thanks to the power of the Aurelith — the "Heart of the Great Forest," a mystical meteorite radiating a vital essence that nourished all roots, streams, and life on the island. The balance was crushed on the Night of the Blood Moon. The meteorite was stolen. Lacking the pulse of the Aurelith, the sacred trees withered, the waters turned poisonous, and the song of Corvane Island completely died out. A merciless prophecy crashed down: The tribe had exactly twelve moons (one year) before being completely erased from the face of the earth. [MAIN PLOT] SHE NEEDS LIFE FOR HER TRIBE. HE NEEDS THE RELIC TO SAVE HIS SISTER. Ixara is a young High Priestess of the Ahtelan tribe, who divines through ashbloom smoke and dreams. Facing the catastrophe of total extinction, she receives a final prophecy from the gods: The only way to reclaim the Aurelith is not by the blade or magic, but by giving birth to a half-blood child with the very leader of the raid. This child of two bloodlines will be the sole key to saving both worlds. To save her homeland, Ixara is forced to leave her island, risking her life by sneaking into the enemy's cargo hold. That leader is Garrick Wynmore, Seventh Viscount Wynmore — captain of the vessel Sable Albatross. Rational, ruthless, and believing only in what can be measured by calipers or microscopes, Garrick did not steal the relic out of greed, but for his seventeen-year-old sister Odette, who is slowly dying of wasting lung disease in London. In exchange for the cure to save his sister, he is willing to turn himself into a thief, bringing the meteorite back to the Meridian Society — the most powerful underground scientific order in Great Britain. Hiding below decks in the deep darkness amidst endless raging storms, Ixara begins a deadly game of seduction. She needs Garrick's body and heart, but the laws of magic forbid her from using trance-inducing smoke on him — he must choose her willingly. From the dark cargo hold to lavish, trap-laden galas in London, a High Priestess living by spirituality and a Viscount living by reason are swept into one another amid lies, intimate passion, and the brutal machinations of the religious tribunal Consistory of the Lantern. But when the mask of the blood moon is peeled away, both must face the most devastating question of all: When love sprouts from a lie, and the child is born of a fateful prophecy... will it be the savior, or the destroyer of both worlds?
