"Now, will I get that kiss, or do you prefer to remain unable to speak my name?" Viktor drawls, his fingers drumming on the table in a slow tune, his body language completely relaxed, in contrast with mine. "You can keep the part where I can't say your name, since I fucking hate you anyway." I sneer at him, surprising myself with how easy it is for him to get a reaction out of me. "I do, however, want my ability to speak of what happened that night back." Viktor's lips twitch, yet the smile doesn't falter. He stretches his arms up and runs a hand through his hair to discreetly fix his hairstyle, no doubt. "Shame, you seemed to like my name on your lips." ---- In the Cursed Lands, wielding magic is what makes you or breaks you. Risa Mai wields only her two fists, a sharp tongue and a will made of steel. Under the wing of Mikail, an old bar owner in the slums of Novigrad, Risa simply wants to blend in and enjoy the simpler things in life, such as her convoluted relationship with her closest friend, Sazir. One day, an unexpected letter threatens to disturb Risa Mai's longstanding comfort, thrusting her into the world of Viktor Valor, the most infamous magic wielder in all of the Cursed Lands. Risa never trusted the magic wielders, so Viktor, the living legend behind their self-proclaimed supremacy, is what she would consider enemy number one. When the two meet and Risa discovers that Viktor knows far too much about her secretive past, she is given only two options: work with me or disappear. Warning: strong language and mature themes.

There are times when Lena Sloans wishes Adrian Stokes would just shut up, sit still and play nice. There are also times when Lena wishes for nothing more than for Adrian to just be Adrian: her frustrating childhood best friend. At the ripe age of twenty-something, Lena and Adrian's dynamic is no different than when they were teenagers. Adrian has always been all about the parties, the fun, the travel, while Lena would prefer to sit on a cactus than to be in a room full of strangers. Maybe their clashing personalities should've been an indicator of how badly things would turn out if they decided to cross the line of friendship and enter into a miserable push-and-pull limbo, but it seems that whenever Adrian looks at Lena, all reason leaves her body. Determined not to repeat the mistake of kissing him, Lena tries to push the memory away, only having to deal with Adrian's other shenanigans, such as coming into her apartment uninvited, meddling in her dating life and making a fool of her in front of a large group of people. You know, the usual. But when enough is enough and Lena finally finds the will to take a step back from Adrian's life, two plane tickets to their hometown threaten to dissipate her newfound resolve and thrust her into even more trouble. --------------- WARNING: Strong language.