In her world, power has never meant freedom—and desire may cost her everything.

Lady Zara Wylcliffe, a twenty-two-year-old knight of Luzan, carries ancient shadow magic in her noble blood. Trapped in a loveless marriage and haunted by past trauma, she’s spent years suppressing her magic, her desires, and her sense of self.

On the way to the royal castle for her cruel husband’s courtly promotion, they discover a mysterious object—one that stirs dread in Zara’s hollow soul. Her husband dismisses her unease, but Zara senses the wrongness of the object and the foreboding future it may represent.

At court, her quiet resolve fractures when she meets Prince Kalen, the king’s brooding younger brother. Their connection is immediate—icy, unwanted, and impossible to ignore. She fears it. She resists it. And yet, curiosity whispers louder than sense.

As forbidden feelings grow and her powers spiral out of control, Zara finds herself caught in a dangerous game of attraction and obsession. What begins as a battle of wills deepens into something far more perilous.

But when dark truths surface and a deadly force threatens the kingdom, Zara realizes that desire and destruction are intertwined in ways she never imagined. Torn between duty, temptation, and the shadows rising inside her, she must decide who to trust before everything—her kingdom, her heart, and her very soul—is lost.

A Crown of Dark Delusions is the first book in a new series—The Zendkyn Prophecies—a dark romantasy where slow-burn tension, forbidden love, and psychological depth entwine. Perfect for fans of One Dark Window and The Serpent and the Wings of Night, Zara’s journey is one of power, obsession, and the haunting cost of freedom.