The King Who Only Loves Corpses
In the Empire of Vireth, a land cursed by blood and ritual, Emperor Kaelor Vireth cannot feel emotion—except at the moment of death. Life is a dull, colorless haze, until he experiences near-death, when sensation floods his senses and his mind awakens to anger, joy, and desire.
To feel alive, he engineers wars and invites assassination attempts, each near-death moment a drug. Until Seris Vale, a legendary assassin, is sent to kill him. But when her blade first pierces his defense, Kaelor feels something more than pain—he feels… alive.
Instead of execution, Kaelor binds her to him as his personal executioner, the only person allowed to attempt his death. Each encounter becomes a ritual: a deadly game of proximity and passion, where the knife at his throat is indistinguishable from intimacy.
As their dangerous liaison unfolds, Seris discovers she alone can make the king feel, and Kaelor discovers he cannot survive without her touch. But desire and power are never without consequence. Court factions, assassins’ guilds, and foreign powers all seek to manipulate, control, or eliminate them.
The Assassin Guild demands she finish her mission; rivals and nobles suspect her influence; cultists claim the king is a demon. And through it all, their bond evolves from weapon and target to a twisted, intoxicating addiction—each testing the boundaries of loyalty, survival, and love.
Over centuries of political upheaval, assassination attempts, and forbidden intimacy, both must confront their darkest impulses. Kaelor is forced to decide whether to remain addicted to death, or to risk living for the first time. Seris must choose whether to be the executioner who ends him, or the anchor who teaches him to survive.
At its heart, The King Who Only Loves Corpses is a story about addiction, obsession, and the fragile, dangerous beauty of emotion itself. It’s a gothic dark fantasy romance designed for long-term serialization, with intricate political intrigue, morally grey protagonists, and high-stakes, addictive near-death tension.