A bargain with the power to anger forgotten gods.
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Evelyn has nothing left to lose. Two weeks ago, she walked away from her own life and into a dilapidated drug house. She doesn't remember anything before that — not the grief that drove her here, not the people she loved, not the woman she used to be — when she wakes up next to Laney.
Laney is older than Babylon. She made a forbidden bargain and now she has just weeks to teach Evelyn how to inherit her magic and immortality, or watch it kill them both. Evelyn's former dealer is looking for her. A demon of debauchery is closing in. The gods are listening. And the foremothers are restless.
The Joining Trial is the gritty, profane first book in the Blood Rite series, a dark urban fantasy of forgotten Mesopotamian gods, found family, redemption and a magic that is older than time. For readers of Ninth House, Crescent City, and the Mercy Thompson novels who like their fantasy with teeth.
The Joining Trial is adult dark urban fantasy. On the page, you'll find: body horror and ritual violence, on-page death, active addiction and drug use, demonic threat, heavy profanity, and one open-door sex scene early in the book. Themes include grief, self-destruction, and the kind of love that costs everything. If you finished Ninth House wanting it darker, you're in the right place. 18+ readers only.
The Joining Trial is book one of a dark urban fantasy trilogy that weaves together addiction and redemption, found family, a Mesopotamian magic system, and characters who will rip your heart out and eat it whole. Book two is in progress.
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