The Gloom on Aethelgard
A dark academia fantasy romance with enemies to lovers, forbidden magic, spies, and a war between light and shadow.

In Vesperium Academy, a gilded cage of light and order, Emma Baker is the perfect student. She is a master of Solarian magic, poised for a future of quiet excellence. But in a world where light is life and shadow is death, a dark, forbidden magic pulses within her—a secret that could see her branded a heretic and cleansed by holy fire.
When a brutal attack shatters the academy’s pristine walls, a desperate, instinctive act of shadow magic exposes her secret to save the school’s golden boy. Thrown into a web of lies, she is forced into an unholy alliance with the one man she should hate: an arrogant enemy prince who sees the truth of her power. Together, they must uncover a conspiracy that reaches the highest echelons of power, a plot designed to ignite a devastating war.
Framed as traitors and hunted by everyone they once trusted, Emma and her unlikely ally are forced to flee. With their names cursed and their faces branded on wanted posters, their only hope lies in a desperate quest into a blighted wasteland for a mythical artifact—the only thing that can stop the holy war they are being blamed for. But to save the world, Emma must first embrace the monstrous power she was taught to fear, even if it costs her everything she has ever loved.