The Poison Daughter

A surprise betrothal traps the youngest Carrenwell daughter

Harlow is a Carrenwell—youngest of nine children in the ruling magical family of Lunameade, a walled city besieged by vampire-like Drained.

A surprise betrothal traps the youngest Carrenwell daughter

Harlow is a Carrenwell—youngest of nine children in the ruling magical family of Lunameade, a walled city besieged by vampire-like Drained. Her family's unique ability to see magic through auras has kept them in power for generations. Harlow's own blessing manifests as a poison kiss: anyone her lips touch dies. She's already been married once—to a man she secretly poisoned on her parents' orders. Now widowed and savoring her independence, she attends a family dinner where her father Harrick announces that Mountain Haven, a fort thought destroyed ten years ago, has risen again. Their heir wants a bride. Before she processes this, Harrick names Harlow as the offering. Trapped by the Carrenwell code of public unity, she can only smile and nod. Her parents have traded her again.

Harlow's poison lips meet the one man they cannot destroy

That night, Harlow dons her secret identity—the Poison Vixen, who hunts abusive husbands across Lunameade. Using an enchanted necklace from her sister Aidia to glamour her appearance, she takes a rushed job from a desperate wife. At a pub, her target matches the description perfectly: dark hair, navy coat, easy charm, a white rose. He takes her upstairs. What follows isn't murder but the most passionate encounter of her life. She pours lethal magic into kiss after kiss, and he just kisses her harder—immune to every drop of poison. Terrified and aroused, Harlow flees into the cold night. The first man she has ever truly kissed is still breathing behind her, and she has no idea why.

Her one-night mark walks in as her betrothed husband

The next morning, Harlow enters the contract signing expecting a wild-haired savage from the mountains. Instead, the man who steps through the door is her pub stranger—introducing himself as Henry Havenwood. He winks. She nearly drops her teacup. Neither reveals their shared night. When her father slices Harlow's arm so Henry can demonstrate his healing magic from Divine Elvodeen, she doesn't flinch—a detail Henry notes with unsettling precision. After both families sign the contract in blood, Harlow waits for him to expose her murder attempt; he waits for her to explain it. In the garden maze afterward, they trade threats like courtship gifts, each convinced the other is a weapon aimed at their family. He promises to chase her if she runs. She leaves him lost among the hedges.