Villains and Virtues

Dark lord, demon spawn, prophesied realm destroyer. With a demon for a father, Damien Maleficus Bloodthorne's destiny could be nothing but nefarious, and with the completion of his most vicious spell, Damien is on the cusp of fulfilling the evil inevitability all of his dark machinations have led to. And then, her-bubbly, obnoxious, blonde. Harboring secrets of her own, a tiny yet troublesome thief calling herself Amma completely upsets Damien's malevolent plans when she mistakenly gets chained to his side through magic, forcing him to drag her across the realm. Killing her would fix things, of course, but the nauseatingly sweet Amma proves herself useful on Damien's unholy crusade and then proves herself the source of something even more sinister: feelings. Will Damien be forced to abandon his villainous birthright to help the tender thorn in his side? Or will he manage to overcome the virtue Amma insists on inspiring and instead cut it out at the heart?

Lady Ammalie Avington, Baroness of Faebarrow, has discovered the truth, and it should not come as a surprise: the blood mage who threatened, spellbound, and abducted her intends to bring ruin to the realm, the very one she is sworn to serve. It's just a terribly inconvenient fact to learn because, well... he's rather cute. But it's not safe to pine after the son of a demon, especially not whilst locked up in a tower surrounded by infernal beings and a rival for your affection, nor trapped below ground in a den of beguiling vampires, nor even in the heart of a wild jungle under the tutelage of esoteric witches. Amma just can't help herself around Damien Maleficus Bloodthorne, danger be damned, but, truly, what danger is there? Damien's heart, the one he swears to not have, has been softening right before her eyes. Nevermind the weird smoke that sometimes unwittingly emanates from his hands or that faraway look he gets to his eyes, and a voice she can't hear telling him that he's meant to be a vessel? Surely, it's all just a bad dream. After finally tasting freedom and learning that Amma may have ancient, innate magical powers of her own, why not use them to do exactly as she pleases?

Their destinies are irrevocably entangled, but will their bond be the realm's undoing? Damien and Amma have landed themselves in the midst of Yvlcon, the preeminent congregation of the vilest and most unscrupulous villains in existence. Once again amongst his peers, Damien's moral growth is threatened just when he's learning to be slightly less evil. Consequently, Amma finds her own virtue in peril when faced with so much temptation, namely in the form of a domineering blood mage she can't, or doesn't want, to say no to. But a burgeoning romance is doused in the coldest of baths when the Grand Order of Dread commands Damien to once again face the swirling vortex of entropy that's been hunting them all over the realm. The coming eclipse points to devastation and destruction, and there seems to be no avoiding annihilation, prophecy being, well, prophecy, after all. But there's an entire fortnight before the world is supposed to end, and surely that's enough time to find some way around it, or to at least confess one's devotion to the other before it all burns down around them.

Xander Shadowhart's mother is dead. Well, no, not exactly-nothing could probably kill Birzuma the Blasphemed-but she is banished to the infernal plane, and that's almost as bad, especially considering she seems to have taken Xander's control over his powers with her. Born to a demon, Xander's purpose has been beaten into him his entire life: serve his maker and carry out her will, but when the time comes to summon his mother back into the material realm, he's not exactly sure he wants to…er, is able to, not without mending his command over the noxscura first. As luck and plot would have it, though, he's in possession of a decades-old clue that just might teach him how. But quests always have their interruptions, and when a haughty herbalist refuses to give him the attention he deserves, Xander becomes distracted, especially when her threats and demands awaken in him a new desire to serve. He can't be blamed, not when she's so beautiful and so talented and so mean, but the piling on of newly discovered kin and complications with his arcana jeopardize everything-his connection to his dark powers, his plan to bring his mother back, and, most horrifyingly, his feelings. Blood mages aren't really supposed to have those, but it may finally be Xander's turn to learn what the rest of us have known all along.

Celeste Delacroix's sister is dead. This is unfortunate… sort of. But it's also an opportunity to return to the realm of Eiren and begin anew-if noxscura will allow her. Cursed with dark magic, living virtuously has always eluded Celeste, but she's determined to right the wrongs she wrought in the sleepy village of Briarwyke and maybe even find her ever after, happiness unrequired and, as she sees it, undeserved. But darkness accompanies Celeste as keenly as clumsiness and shame, and when she accidentally releases a new evil on Briarwyke, she must find a divine source of magic to destroy it. Sir Reeve, Holy Knight of Valcord, is one such divine source-not to mention incredibly handsome-and as luck would have it, already intent on vanquishing the evil that plagues Briarwyke. Unfortunately, he believes that evil to be a noxscura-wielding witch who has desecrated his faith's temple: Celeste herself. Abyss-bent on fulfilling his destiny, Reeve's virtue and beliefs have never wavered because the world is simple, after all-there are those who are good, and those who are evil, and evil must be destroyed. But what happens when a perceived evil requests assistance in defeating an even greater threat? Can Celeste and Reeve band together to save Briarwyke, or will their contempt for one another be their downfall? Bound to Fall is a standalone spinoff of Villains & Virtues, a completed trilogy that follows the exploits of Damien and Amma. This book takes place in the spring, after the events of Villains & Virtues, and does contain spoilers for the series, including character death. However, Bound to Fall focuses on a new couple, Celeste and Reeve, who we did not meet in the original trilogy, and can be read as a standalone story.