Ashes and Elixirs

Their relationship is a secret. The Guild's darkest weapon is hiding in plain sight. And someone is watching. Sera and Caelum are together -- stolen moments in the apothecary after dark, whispered confessions on rain-soaked rooftops, a love as dangerous as any banned potion. But in Thornhaven, even desire has a cost. When a Guild functionary begs Sera to free him from a loyalty compulsion he's been under for twenty years, she discovers the full horror of the Guild's control: dozens of its own members are prisoners in their own minds, bound by potions they don't even know they've been given. Brewing the cure gives Sera her first weapon against the institution that killed her grandmother. But Caelum's double life is cracking. His former partner is suspicious. Councilor Wren is hunting for a mole. And the secret Sera finds in the Guild's restricted archive will change everything she thinks she knows about the Sundering. Someone is watching from the rain. And they've seen everything. secret relationship * "we shouldn't be doing this" * stolen moments * identity revealed * mind control * spicy * gothic intrigue