Of Nectar and Steel: A Dark Fantasy Romance (Crossed by Blood)

“If I lived a hundred million lives, it wouldn’t be enough.”

HIM

She commanded me before I ever saw her face.

Her scent found me first—rich, impossible, a nectar made for starving gods. I had crossed centuries without kneeling to anything, yet one breath of her and I became a man learning hunger for the very first time.

I followed the trail of her aura through the crowd—a ribbon of bronze mist, bright as stardust and twice as dangerous.

And then I saw her.

A slim figure weaving through strangers, leaving winter and temptation in her wake, unaware that fate had already chosen her keeper.

She disappeared.

I did not stop hunting.

There is nowhere in this universe she could run that I would not follow. I felt the claim settle into my bones the moment she entered my awareness.

Mine.

I would take her to the void between realms, to the home I carved from shadows and silence, and keep her safe from every cruel thing that ever learned her name.

I did not know my ghosts were already sharpening their teeth.

I did not know just how far my obsession would rule me.

To protect her, I will offer blood.

Empires.

My own ruin if necessary.

Because a love like this does not ask permission.

It devours.

OF NECTAR AND STEEL

Jude has survived centuries by obeying one rule—feel nothing, want nothing, need no one. Then Karissa steps into his path, glowing like something heaven misplaced, and every law he has ever lived by turns to ash.

She is human. Fragile. Temporary.

And he is a creature built for possession.

As enemies from Jude’s past crawl out of the dark, Karissa becomes both his salvation and his undoing. The void he calls home is not empty—it remembers his sins—and the price for loving her may be his final breath.

In a world where devotion can sound like a threat,

Jude must decide what he is willing to become to keep her.

Tropes

Morally black, worship-level obsession

Fated fixation / touch-her-and-die

Protector turned predator

Forced proximity in otherworldly setting

Gothic vampire fantasy

No cheating

HEA

Please read trigger warnings inside the book—your mental health matters.

A dark vampire fantasy romance. Third in interconnected standalones—Jude and Karissa’s story. No particular reading order required.