River's End

--- River Witch Some bloodlines are bound to water. Some debts are never paid in full. When Evelyn Blake returns to the remote riverside village of Elowen after fifteen years away, she expects grief and silence—but not the whispers that rise from the mist-covered water. As bodies resurface and ghostly lights drift through the fog, Evelyn uncovers a buried legacy: a pact made generations ago between her family and a nameless spirit that haunts the river. With the curse's final reckoning approaching, Evelyn must confront the sins of her bloodline, unravel the truth behind her ancestor’s forbidden ritual, and decide whether to escape the fate written for her—or embrace it. In a village where no one speaks of the drowned, the river never forgets. And it always collects what it’s owed.

River Black set out on a camping trip with her parents after a bad breakup. Lured into the woods late at night, River is pulled into another world, one far more dangerous and sinister than she could imagine. There she meets two princes of House Eventide. One is shrouded in darkness and mystery, cold hearted and wicked. The other is cursed and seeks only to save her. Both men want her for themselves. Can she ever escape? Does she even want to?

There was a river that ran through our village. According to the legend, a river god dwelled in its depths, and every month on the 15th, the village had to send a young woman to enter the water and serve him. At first, everything seemed normal. After their service to the river god, the women would return to shore, go home, and eventually marry and start families. But this year, the peace was shattered. Every woman who spent the night with the river god turned up dead, their naked bodies floating to the surface. I secretly watched as they retrieved the corpses twice. The evidence of the violation was horrific. This month, I was selected. I had been chosen to marry the river god.

Seventeen‑year‑old Raven has spent her whole life drifting through the foster system, never staying long enough to call anywhere home. With her eighteenth birthday—and the end of state support—only weeks away, she’s sent to the strange little town of Hallow’s Edge, a place obsessed with Halloween and thick with secrets. The Connors, her new foster family, are nothing like the others. Warm. Protective. Magical. And their son Noah? He’s distant, intense, and impossible to read… yet Raven feels an instant pull toward him she can’t explain. But Hallow’s Edge is waking up. Students are disappearing. Shadows move where they shouldn’t. And Raven’s dreams are filled with a crying woman and a warning she can’t escape. When Raven’s dormant witch powers begin to stir, she discovers she’s the last heir of a powerful witch bloodline—and Noah is bound to her by a fate older than the town itself. In Hallow’s Edge, nothing is accidental. Not her arrival. Not her magic.

When I was in college, my mom had terminal cancer, and our family company collapsed due to heavy debts. Just when I was at my lowest, my childhood friend Zach Hall rushed back from overseas. For seven years, he stayed by my side and helped me heal. …Until the night before our engagement ceremony, when I was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. I wanted to tell Zach, but instead, I overheard a conversation between him and the lead surgeon who had operated on my mother. "Zach, your fiancee's mother could've been saved back then. But you stopped me from treating her, just so Jessica could get that poor woman's corneas. If Jessica is the one you love, why marry your fiancee?" "I do feel guilty toward Annie, but I don't regret it. It was the only way for Jess to pick up a brush again and keep chasing her dreams." Through the crack in the door, I saw clearly the tenderness on Zach's face when he mentioned Jessica. "What if Annie finds out?" the surgeon asked. Zach fell silent, rubbing the band on his ring finger. "I don't know. I've already decided to marry her. I'll love her, protect her, and spend the rest of my life making it up to her." The pain hit me so hard at that moment that I almost collapsed, as if my heart was being ripped out.

Mother used my life to threaten the system and force Father to return for a second time. But this time, Father was different. He no longer cared that Mother favored her childhood sweetheart, Adrian Voss. He did not even react when Undersecretary Adrian pretended to be frail and provoked him in front of her. When Mother begged for forgiveness, Father only calmly rolled up his sleeve and pressed a dagger to the scarred skin of his wrist. "Tell me. How much blood do you need this time?" Mother's face tightened with pain. Her eyes went red. "Gideon, must you embarrass me like this? Can't our family be harmonious like before?" Father's gaze moved from Mother to Adrian, but he said nothing. His silence told her exactly who had caused his disappointment and pain again and again. Sure enough, Mother stiffened, then spoke in anger to hide her shame. "Adrian has only been in court for two years. Just because you failed the civil-service exams, are you so jealous that you'd watch him die?" "Gideon, he was my uncle's finest student. I can't stand by and let him die." "Don't worry. Once Adrian recovers, I won't make you bleed into his medicine again. After all, the person I love most is you." As soon as she said it, I crawled out from the corner and threw myself in front of Father. I wanted to beg him not to believe her. I wanted him to leave quickly, before Mother and Adrian could hurt him again. But Father tightened his hand around mine and smiled gently. "Don't be afraid, Eli. This time, I came back to take you home with me."