A Hunger Like Ruin

He was built to be a weapon. She was built to be his grave.

For twenty-five years, Kaelen has lived with the deafening roar of his own power. As a Cataclysm-class mage, he is a walking nuclear reactor, generating a lethal, unending supply of golden Aether. He is the Citadel's most dangerous asset, and he is fully prepared to detonate just to finally find some quiet.

Enter Vesper.

Cold, regimented, and brutally efficient, Vesper is a Siphon. To the world, she is a "Null"—a rare human capable of grounding magic. But beneath her skin lies a skeletal structure of Void Glass, an alchemical horror designed for one purpose: to feast on magical energy. When a rebel ambush forces them to escape into the ash-choked Deadlands, Vesper doesn't just chain Kaelen to her side. She begins to drain him.

For Kaelen, her touch is the only thing that silences the screaming storm in his head. To survive the journey, he uses compliance and seduction to keep her dormant. But Vesper is starved for more than just magic. As she softens to his touch, the intoxicating high of his Aether begins to awaken a primal, insatiable hunger she was programmed to ignore.

They are a perfect, infinite circuit. But love is a consumption, and Vesper is realizing she doesn't just want to keep Kaelen safe.

She wants to swallow the sun.

A Hunger Like Ruin is a dark, somatic romantasy thriller. It features a morally black protagonist, visceral bio-horror magic, and a deeply toxic romance where "I love you so much I could eat you" is not a metaphor.