Anathema - Kerl Lake

In a brutal world where villagers fear the cursed Witch Knell woods—called the Eating Woods because nothing taken from it returns—Maevyth Bronwick, a young woman shunned for mysterious reasons, is forced beyond that terrifying forest boundary after a tragic turn of events. There she enters a dark, fantastical realm filled with deadly enchantments and grotesque forces.

She encounters Zevander Rydainn, the cold-blooded assassin and cursed lord of Eidolon, whose own fate is bound to ancient magic. Tasked with keeping her hidden from powerful mages who seek her for arcane prophecies, Zevander must protect Maevyth—whose blood may hold the key to breaking his curse—even as a dangerous attraction threatens to consume them both and upend everything they know.