ASHES BETWEEN WORLDS: Volume One / The First Book in the Ashes Between Trilogy / Romantasy (The "Ashes Between..." Trilogy Series) by Lauren R. Thorne

She reads the dead. He guards the boundary between worlds. The blood that binds them has existed since before she was born. ASH VOSS RUNS A SMALL-TOWN CREMATORIUM WITH THE PRECISION OF SOMEONE WHO HAS SOMETHING TO HIDE. FOR TWENTY-THREE YEARS, SHE HAS TOUCHED ASH AND SEEN THE MEMORIES OF THE DEAD — THEIR LOVES, THEIR FEARS, THEIR LAST MOMENTS. FOR TWENTY-THREE YEARS, SHE HAS CALLED THIS A MALFUNCTION. SHE HAS BUILT HER ENTIRE LIFE AROUND CONTAINING IT. THEN, ON AN ORDINARY TUESDAY, THE ASH MOVES ON ITS OWN. KAEL IS THE THRESHOLD GUARDIAN — AN ANCIENT BEING SEALED FOR FOUR CENTURIES BY THE COURT OF DAWN WHEN HIS POWER BECAME INCOMPATIBLE WITH THEIR SYSTEM OF CONTROL. HE EXISTS AT THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE LIVING WORLD AND WHATEVER LIES BEYOND IT, AND ASH’S BLOOD CARRIES HIS NATURE, PLACED THERE BEFORE SHE WAS BORN. THIS IS NOT A COINCIDENCE. SOMEONE PLANNED IT FOUR HUNDRED YEARS IN ADVANCE. ASH IS HIS ANCHOR IN THE LIVING WORLD. HE IS THE REASON HER POWER HAS NEVER DESTROYED HER. THEY ARE STRUCTURALLY BOUND BEFORE THEY EVER MEET. NEITHER OF THEM CHOSE IT. BUT AS THE COURT OF DAWN MOVES AGAINST THEM AND THE SECRETS OF A DESTROYED FAE ORDER EMERGE FROM AN ARCHIVE NO ONE SHOULD HAVE FOUND, ASH REALIZES HER LIFE WAS NEVER ONLY HERS — AND IT’S TIME TO DECIDE WHAT TO DO WITH IT. Read more