The Hollow Bride (THE NIGHT THRONE SAGA) by Sara King

In Velmora, girls are not chosen to become brides. They are chosen to disappear. Every generation, the Hollow Rite takes girls from across the kingdom and offers them to the Veilborn—ancient creatures bound to the Crown through blood, fear, and a covenant no one dares question. The priests call it sacred. The nobles call it necessary. The girls chosen for it call it what it truly is: A death sentence. Isolde Arden has spent her life surviving the flooded lower districts beneath the Night Palace, where hunger is ordinary and grief is inherited. She has no title, no power, and no reason to believe the Crown would ever notice her. Until the Hollow Rite calls her name. Isolde expects to die like every bride before her. Instead, Nytheris—the most feared of the Veilborn—kneels. Read more