The Bloodroot Crown

By Flying Piglet

SUBJECTS BOW. THE ACCURSED BLEED. Highmark is a gilded paradise for its rulers—a city of flickering gaslamps, roaring steam trains, and an aristocracy hoarding the exclusive magic of Sun-light. Down in the bleak, impoverished valley of the Hollows, Tamsin Reed is nothing more than a cursed wielder of Bloodroot magic. She carries a bloodline capable of healing, yet society brands her a plague. Desperate to earn enough coin to save her younger brother, who is coughing up blood from the Ash Rot, Tamsin is forced to accept a deadly contract: become the private tutor to the young Royal Princess at the magnificent estate of Vandermere Hall. The only thing standing between her and a death sentence is a pair of cold, golden eyes belonging to Soren Aldridge—the Frost Duke, heir to the throne, and the flawless blueprint of a cold-blooded monarch. Raised to feel nothing, Soren wields a blade of frozen light and enforces imperial law without hesitation. He views Tamsin as a threat. She views him as the enemy who stole her people’s very air. But when a mysterious poison threatens the princess’s life, Tamsin and Soren are dragged into a ruthless political game. Amid stolen late-night lessons in subterranean libraries, razor-sharp banter, and a forbidden magic stirring in her veins... they come to realize this gilded world conceals a horrifying truth. Soren faces two choices: Uphold the empire his family built on blood and bone. Or burn that crown to ash to keep the only woman who makes his heart beat. World: Gilded Age Romantasy (gaslamps, rail networks, printing presses paired with toxic blood magic). Female Lead: Tamsin Reed – Proud scholar, dry wit, wields cursed Bloodroot healing magic branded as a plague. Male Lead: Soren Aldridge – The cold-hearted Frost Duke, heir to the crown, iced-tea addict, utterly clinical until he meets her.