Featuring a charming and chaotic ensemble cast of characters, this first book in a planned series by debut author Kaylie Smith will sweep readers away with its utterly immersive world building, swoon-worthy romance, and action-packed storytelling.
Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Kaylie Smith’s A Ruinous Fate, which is out January 3rd 2023!
Calliope Rosewood is a witch with a long streak of bad luck. Like all witches in Illustros, her fate is directly tied to Witch’s Dice—powerful artifacts that have blessed her kind with limitless magic but also set them on a path toward destruction. Cursed with unspeakable powers that terrify even the most dangerous witches and fae, Calla deserted her coven four years ago and has been in hiding with her two best friends since. But Calla is also hiding a grave secret: She is only three Rolls away from becoming the last Blood Warrior and starting the Final War that will decimate her people and eradicate their magic.
After a betrayal from her ex leads her one step closer to fulfilling that age-old prophecy, Calla is desperate to do whatever it takes to reset her fate . . . even if that means journeying into the deadly Neverending Forest with said ex and his enticing, yet enigmatic older brother to find the one being who can help her forge her own path. As Calla ventures farther into the enchanted woods, she finds her heart torn between her past desires and the alluring new possibilities of her future and learns that choosing your own destiny may come with deadly consequences.
If it had momentarily escaped Calla that Ezra was an Onyx witch, the unnaturally fast flick of his magic that swept a gust of wind across the room to slam the door to her escape did well to remind her of exactly what he was capable of. She almost faltered a step as she began inching away from the table and toward the door, twisting her face over her shoulder to bare her teeth at him.
“You can’t do this,” she asserted. “I won!”
“You cheated, you mean,” he snapped back.
“If anyone here was capable of cheating,” she accused, “don’t you think it would be the one who dealt the cards?”
Ezra’s coal eyes seemed to darken as he stalked toward her, giving Calla the feeling that her accusation wasn’t such a shot in the dark.
“You forget how well I know you, Calla,” he said, giving her a sinister smirk. “Your pretty little poker face may fool everyone else, but it isn’t fooling me. You’ve been cheating all night.”
She gave him a mocking smile in return. “It’s nice to know you still find me pretty.” The words were like acid in her mouth, but she shoved down the memories they conjured and focused on getting closer to the exit.
“When have I ever suggested you weren’t?” He lifted a brow.
“Oh, my mistake,” she said sarcastically. “You just implied that I wasn’t good enough for you.”
“I told you from the beginning I wasn’t here to play nice. Did you think you were an exception to that?”
It took all her effort not to flinch at his words. “How clever of you to hide your intentions in plain sight. And to think I once assumed you were all beauty and no brains.”
He glowered. “Enough. You cheated, and you’re not leaving until you take this die from me.”
“You may want to work on your sportsmanship, Ezra.” She spoke with an air of nonchalance that was entirely bravado. “Accusing people of cheating just because you lost isn’t a very good look on you—”
“Are you going to pretend,” he said, edging closer to her, “that I wasn’t the one who sharpened your gambling skills? Or that we haven’t spent the last few months pulling this exact con on a hundred other fools?”
She held her breath as he came closer still.
“Or that I can’t sense when you use your magic just as well as you can sense mine?” he murmured. Another step closer and Calla’s entire body could feel the familiar warmth of his magic as he paused only two feet away. She braced herself to run.
“Did you just call yourself a fool?” Calla quipped.
His forehead furrowed for a second before giving her a hard, annoyed look. She needed to get out of here now.
Ezra went to speak again, and Calla used the opportunity to throw out a blast of power, seizing every ounce of blood in his body with her Rouge magic and throwing him back into the card table. She quickly turned toward the exit as the center of the wood splintered with a crack from the sheer force.
