The Contract of Blood: A Dark Romantasy of Cursed Hearts, Blood-Bound Vows, and a Love Born from a Deadly Pact

"Every love leaves a scar.
Every scar remembers who we tried to save."

When Ravel D'Arcen, heir to a dying bloodline of royal scribes, inherits a forbidden artifact known as The Book of 36 Hearts, his fate is sealed.
The book demands that he complete all thirty-six rituals of love before his twenty-fifth birthday—or his heart will stop beating forever.

Desperate to survive, Ravel makes a dangerous deal. He buys the loyalty of a young mercenary named Lior Aurelin, a man who believes that everything has a price—including affection itself.
Lior agrees to become the vessel for the book's next ritual, so long as Ravel keeps the gold flowing.
Neither man expects that their contract of blood will awaken something far older, darker, and far more fragile than any curse: the possibility of love.

Each page of the book bleeds when touched by sincerity.
Each ritual demands more—of memory, of pain, of trust.
And with every vow they complete, the silver mark above Ravel's heart burns deeper, binding him to Lior in ways both mystical and human.
But their fragile connection draws attention from the shadows: the Royal Sanctum, a corrupted order led by Cael Aurelin, Lior's estranged brother and the book's former master.
Cael failed to finish the final ritual once before—and now he wants his brother's blood to try again.

As Ravel and Lior run from hunters, priests, and the curse itself, they must decide whether love is a salvation or a trap.
Because the book does not care if they live or die—
it only wants to know if they can love without asking for anything in return.

Darkly romantic, atmospheric, and aching with tension,
The 36th Heart: The Contract of Blood marks the beginning of a five-book romantasy saga about love that defies magic, morality, and mortality itself.
Perfect for readers of The Song of Achilles, Heaven Official's Blessing, and The Atlas Six,
this is a story where every vow costs blood—and every heartbeat is a promise.