Duke Rhime of the Spire is here!

Today, Duke Rhime of the Spire is officially out in the world.

I didn’t plan to write this novel. It wasn’t on my release calendar or part of some long-term roadmap. It began as a creative impulse—one that hit me hard during the holiday break when snow covered the ground, coffee flowed endlessly, and I found myself with two weeks off work and a rare abundance of time. What started as a few exploratory pages quickly turned into a 100,000-word descent into one of the darkest corners of Lucardia’s past. By January, I knew I wasn’t just writing a one-off story—I was building the foundation of a new trilogy.

Duke Rhime of the Spire takes us back 300 years before The Absolution of the Morning Star series, and its offshoots, into the final days of the Five Kingdoms period (timeline here). It is a tale of ambition, bloodlines, and buried power—but it isn’t told by the man whose name is on the cover. This story belongs to Evaline Lysena, the second daughter of a struggling noble house, married off to a man no one dares speak about aloud: Rhime Battenborne, the Duke of Eldenspire.

Evaline arrives at the Spire believing her fate is sealed. She will play the part expected of her—demure, loyal, quiet. But Eldenspire does not permit silence. It twists it. The castle becomes a character in its own right—haunted, breathing, watching—and through Evaline’s eyes, we begin to see the legacy of power not as glory, but as corrosion. Her journey becomes one of endurance, suspicion, emotional survival, and—eventually—transformation.

Though this book is rooted in dark fantasy, it leans more heavily into gothic romance, psychological tension, and intimate dread than anything I’ve written before. I wanted it to feel immersive and moody—like stepping into a room where something just left, and something else is waiting to arrive. And while it is steeped in Lucardian lore, it also stands as a perfect entry point for new readers. If you’ve never read one of my Lucardian novels, this is a place to begin. If you have, you’ll start to see the early tremors of the events that ripple into the larger series.

Duke Rhime of the Spire is the first of a planned trilogy. The second book, King Rhime of the Spire, is already whispering to me. The third, Emperor Rhime of the Spire, will close the arc that begins today—with Evaline at its center. Always Evaline.

Initially, I went through the motions of querying this book. And I had some interest. Ultimately, I decided to release it independently, on my own timeline, and give it the space and attention it deserves. I believe in this story. Deeply. And I trust there are readers out there who will see themselves in Evaline’s resilience, in her unraveling, in her impossible choices. This book is for anyone who’s ever stood still and realized the ground beneath them was moving.

If you’re a fan of A Dowry of Blood, For the Throne, or The Wolf and the Woodsman, I think you’ll find something here that resonates. If you enjoy tragic love, slow-burn tension, haunted castles, morally gray ambition, and heroines who refuse to disappear—this book was written for you.

Duke Rhime of the Spire is now available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions (I’m forgoing Audio until Amazon straightens out some sales it owes me). If you do pick this book up, and it leaves a mark—whether that’s a shiver, a sigh, or something you can’t quite name—I’d be honored if you left a review or shared it with someone who might feel the same.

Thank you for supporting my work, for venturing into Lucardia with me, and for giving new stories a home.

The Spire is open, and in the words of the Battenborne motto, In Luce Volvitur, In Tenebris Dentes (Coil in the Light, Fangs in the Dark).

Cheers!