She built her walls with ink and truth. He hid behind shadows. Eleanor Vance exposes London's frauds for a living. Fake mediums, false prophets, charlatans preying on the grieving-she's dismantled them all with nothing sharper than her pen. When a dead lord's final message summons her by name, the terror frozen on his face tells her this case will cost more than ink. James Holloway has spent twenty years as an exile, stripped of his name, wrapped in a darkness that moves like a living thing. Protecting the stubborn journalist chasing secrets that swallow people whole wasn't his plan. Neither was the way her unflinching honesty dismantles defenses no enemy has ever breached. She sees the wounded protector hiding behind every cynical word. He sees the fierce woman reckless enough to follow him into a hidden world of ancient power, deadly rituals, and a ragtag band of outcasts who become the closest thing to family either has known. She is his compass. He is her shield. Together, they are someone's worst nightmare. Will their love survive a war fought in darkness, or will the forces circling London extinguish every light they've found?