Welcome back to Harker Academy for Deviant Defense, where the line between hunter and hunted has never been thinner.
Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Cursed City by Kate Golden, which releases on September 29th 2026.
Viv Abbot will do whatever it takes to rescue Reid Graveheart, the reformed Brood demon she loves—even if it means teaming up with his violent, unpredictable older brother, Deacon. Her uneasy truce with him offers Viv something Reid never could: the chance to embrace her darkness.
As the search for Reid intensifies, Viv and her friends must maintain appearances on Harker grounds while wading into Astera’s seedy underbelly with none other than the White Stag as their guide. But when a bounty on Viv’s head puts those she cares about most in danger, Viv will be forced to go to lengths she never dreamed in order to protect them.
With enemies closing in from all sides and a ticking clock on her life, Viv must save the Half City from destruction while surviving a betrayal that strikes at the heart of everything she’s fighting for. Because in a world where monsters wear familiar faces and temptation cuts deeper than any blade, making it through her second semester at Harker will take more than skill—it will take everything Viv has left to give. Who can she really trust in a city that thrives on lies?
EXCERPT
The sun is setting over Astera, and I am dying.
“It’s about your brother . . .” My voice is garbled by all the blood pooling in my mouth. Deacon—all hulking, demonic, six foot six inches of him—drags me through grime and snow to hurl me in-side his club. I land hard and my body shrieks in pain. Another bout of hacking results in a gory splatter of red on Fever Dream’s polished concrete floors.
Baz follows Deacon inside, as silent and looming as a shadow, his dark hair hanging mournfully in front of his face. He looks wary of me—violet eyes flitting back and forth between my crum-pled, shivering body and his menacing boss. A baby‑faced bar-tender leans over the bar with interest, fangs jutting from his mouth at the sight of my blood. An elegant, bronze‑skinned acro-bat peers up from her stretches on the raised dais where the DJ equipment stands.
“Speak,” Deacon commands. His pale eyes fixate on the sizzled flesh of my back—the place where I carry the deadliest spell known to man.
“The Brood . . .” My lungs crackle with each word. “When Reid—”
“What’s all that noise?” When I turn toward the voice I find Ward, the handsome werewolf bartender I met a week ago, coming out from a swinging door behind the bar. He’s holding a dishrag and a bottle of gin. His earthy green eyes widen at the sight of me. “Snow White?”
Deacon ignores him. “What happened to my brother, Vivienne?”
At that Ward straightens, leaves the bottle and rag on the bar top, and stalks over to Deacon’s side.
“He’s at the docks,” I wheeze. “Finn, the High Thane’s son, has him. Please, they’re going to—” I cough again. Dim lights and Grecian columns and the lofted ceiling swirl around me. “They’re going to kill him.”
A curse rips from Deacon, the sound rumbling through the club like an earthquake. Despite my best efforts, I cower at the fury rippling off his broad shoulders and stern jaw. “Heal her,” he com-mands. I’m not sure who he’s talking to, because my sight has faded into bursts and splotches. When I can no longer hold myself up, I slump to the floor.
Before consciousness slips away from me, I’m lifted by ice‑cold hands. From the weak hum beneath my skin, I know it’s a deviant, but I’m too depleted to squirm away.
“Don’t let any Brood in tonight,” Deacon growls. “Not until we return. And nobody breathes a word of this outside these walls, yeah?” Quiet murmurs of agreement. “And for the love of Christ,” Deacon barks to whoever is holding me. Baz, I’d guess, from the vampiric chill of his skin. “Don’t let her bleed all over the lounge.”
With that, two sets of feet file outside before the massive front doors swing closed with a hideous thud.
“Will they save him?” I don’t care what happens to me. But Reid, but Reid—
I don’t hear Baz’s response. Only the rushing of my desperate heartbeat, the shimmering twinkle of the syrabraxa below my skin, and the gentle thump of club music. Something warm and wet brushes my lips, and an endless void swallows me whole.
Excerpted from Cursed City by Kate Golden Copyright © 2026 by Kate Golden. Excerpted by permission of Ace. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
