Damsels aren't supposed to wield swords, especially ancient swords that will have the blood of thousands spilled across it. ✵✵✵✵✵ Deep in the mountains of Cambria, there lives a legendary queen of unparalleled beauty, benevolence and brutality. She seeks only to avenge her family, but it is easier said than done. She must travel far into the formidable lands of Northumbria to find the king who killed her father. With the help of an assassin turned friend, queen Una sees that nothing can get in her way, except a secret that will shatter her reality forever. ✵✵✵✵✵ EXCERPT ✵✵✵✵✵ "I can understand what it must be like for you, trapped in the walls of the north mountains. While Christian Bryttania grew, your pagan roots began to rot as your people lay waste to the invasions of the Danes and Vikings. A millennia ago, most lived and died within the short distance of which they were born. Their existence was bounded by the wilderness in the unyielding darkness of ancient woods, by the ice shown peaks of impenetrable mountains. This old truth is your reality, is it not?" ✵✵✵✵ WARNING CONTAINS ✵✵✵✵ Disturbing Images Strong Sexual Content Strong Violence Pervasive Language ✵✵✵✵✵✵ Word Count ✵✵✵✵✵✵ Number of words: 191,554 Number of pages in book: 734

❝ An exile should remember that they will die in these lands and there is nothing they can do but fight. ❞ ➳ Cover created by the talented @soundthealarm [complete | editor's pick | book 1] The Reaper's Curse has come, the gods have foreseen death and people are helpless to fight it. Those infected lose their minds, feasting on souls and flesh. Surviving the Reaper's Curse means being forced from Muovea's capital and into exile, abandoned and forgotten. Alicia Zalana had her entire life before her, destined for greatness amongst the opulent palace of the capital. But when the queen is murdered and Alicia is the only one who knows who did it, she's compelled to play her hand and risk exile. Or much, much more. As long-forgotten legends begin to stir beneath the ancient stone of Muovea, Alicia will discover just how much she's willing to sacrifice, and just how much she cares for the captain who saved her life. ➳ Wattpad Editor's Pick (May 2020) ➳ Featured in @WattpadDarkFantasy's 'The Bestiary' reading list ➳ Featured in @Fantasy's 'Dark Fantasy' reading list ➳ Featured in @StoriesUndiscovered's 'Diamond' reading list ➳ Featured in @WattpadZombies' 'Voodoo Hoodoo' reading list ➳ Featured in @SpeculativeFiction's 'More Than The Eye Can See' reading list ➳ Complete! ➳ This book is part of a duology (a two book series) and is the first. The second and final book is 'The Grey Blood'. ➳ Recommended 15+ for depictions of violence and some coarse language. ➳ Previously titled 'The Black Taint'. ➳ Cover created by the wonderful @soundthealarm [[word count: 100,000 - 150,000]]