A magic-addicted spy trapped in the queen's service must track a princess-turned-assassin in order to earn her freedom, but things get complicated when she falls for the princess she's supposed to capture. ***** Weak. Cursed. That's how seventeen-year-old Kayden Branimir, the realm's deadliest assassin, views herself. Some believe she could save the world with her rare healing magic, but she gave up on her powers long ago after failing to save her best friend. Her life changes when she receives a letter from her supposedly dead twin brother, Alaric, begging to be rescued from rival territory Leodia. For the first time since her friend's accident, Kayden is determined to be the hero, but she must learn to embrace her magic--and herself--along the way. Strange. Unnatural. Those are the words whispered about eighteen-year-old Zara Tait, a Leodian spy addicted to soul-stealing magic. Forced into the queen's service, Zara wants to escape and return home, but she has nothing to offer the queen in exchange for her freedom. When Kayden arrives in Leodia, Zara sees the quiet girl with unique magic as the bargaining chip she needs. But the more she learns of Kayden, the more her feelings grow. Now, Zara must choose between her freedom and the dangerous assassin she hadn't meant to fall for. [2020 Watty Award Winner] Content warning: This story contains mature themes of violence, addiction, abuse, self-harm, and mental illness. Cover by Faera Lane

#SurvivalRomance #ForcedProximity #Fast-paced ⁍ Winner of the Wattys2020 Award ⁍ Wattpad brought the rights for it, although it already expired this year. (September, 2025.) If you ever take a headless selfie, pray that you don't live in Bastillio. Because in that city, it is the same as receiving a death sentence. It is proof that you are marked for death-a haunted-one who is targeted by a living shadow of eldritch origin which the citizens call the Shade. But when Vergil Torres found out he was a haunted, he was the opposite of scared. Because he knows that the government has built a shelter that has successfully kept haunteds alive for the past decades. But the gruesome and inexplicable death of one of them during their stay in the supposedly safe house renews the horror of the Shade. Vergil, together with his classmate and fellow haunted, the "traditional morena beauty" Cana Bernardo, decided to get to the bottom of it. The two classmates who were indifferent to each other must now work together if they are to survive through the month.

***This story is Manxman and it is rated R for sexual content! If you are bothered by that then please do not read. I will not tolerate any ignoramous comments about how wrong it is. You have been warned so simply back away slowly or turn and run like hell but do not message me in disgust or complaint if you choose to read and see something you don't want to! **** Will is running from more than just the man who held him prisoner, he is running from the memories, the pain, the knowledge of what he's been made to do and the way he's been used. Running away at night seemed the logical choice until he found himself running straight into a blizzard and realized that he'd die of cold out there alone--but at least he would die free. Turner has all he wants in his sanctuary up in the mountains. His horse, his mule and his trust coonhound, Beaux, are the only company he desires. Three years he'd been alone and tried telling himself that he was content but all that changes the day he finds a dying man in a snow bank. Neither of these men were looking for love but what better way to make fate laugh than to talk about your own plans... and there's just something that happens, some magic in the air, when it's Christmas time, you're fighting attractions and you find yourself snowed in.