Bound by the Raven's Shadow
When Elara Vance inherits Blackwood Manor from a relative she never knew existed, she expects dust, debts, and the bones of a forgotten estate. What she finds is far worse: Kieran Blackwood, the brooding last heir, waiting on the gravel drive with the wary eyes of a man who has not been seen in daylight for years. He warns her to leave. She refuses. The manor has secrets worth more than its decay, and Elara has spent her whole life being underestimated by men who think a woman cannot play their games. Kieran is bound by a pact older than the house itself, a debt his bloodline owes to a raven that is not a raven, an Entity that wears shadow like a cloak and speaks through the caw of every bird that lands on the chimney pots. Margaret Thorne, the housekeeper who never ages, serves something other than the family. Silas Vane, the solicitor with oil-smooth manners, wants the manor emptied for reasons he will not name. And Finn O'Connell, the groundskeeper with a burned hand and a guilty conscience, knows exactly where the bodies are buried. As Elara peels back the wallpaper of lies, she discovers a ritual that must be renewed with every generation, blood given, or blood taken. Kieran is meant to be the next offering. The only problem is that Elara is beginning to love him, and the Raven Entity has begun to notice her in return. To break the curse, she must descend into the catacombs beneath the west wing, confront the truth of what her own blood has to do with the manor, and choose whether she will sacrifice Kieran to save herself or burn the raven's shadow from the world at a cost the Entity is only too happy to name. Some inheritances are traps. Some curses are invitations. And in the heart of Blackwood Manor, the difference between a kiss and a kill is only a matter of timing.