This Rotting Heart

Name: This Rotting Heart
Author: Celeste Baxendell

74 pages

A princess without a heart. A dying land. A king who will do anything to save his people, even force an alchemist to marry him.

Princess Hellebore loves nothing more than she loves decay. It is her specialty as an alchemist, and she expects her skill will serve her well when she one day takes her aunt’s position and becomes her brother’s alchemist.
When she risks crossing into Sun Elf territory and breaking the law to steal a Sunrise Iris for her studies, she’s caught red-handed and carried off to their capital. However, the last thing she expected upon arrival was to be thrust into a marriage with their king.
Their people’s animosity towards hers is a centuries deep wound, and there is no one who hates the alchemists more than King Taiyo. But something is deeply rotten, and when an alchemist is the only one who can save the Sun Elves, Hellebore has no choice but to be her husband’s alchemist.
The only benefit is that it means she is his wife in name only. She might give the charming elf her skills, but she will never give him her heart. No matter how hard he might try to win it.

This Rotting Heart is the third book in the Seasons of Legend series, a multi-author collection of romantic fantasy novellas designed to be read independently. Each standalone features a different season and retelling with an enemies to lover’s twist. In this spring tale you will find a Hades and Persephone reimagining full of alchemy and swoony no-spice romance.

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