RELEASE TOUR: Moonlight and the Mirror by Evelynn Carver
Length: 95,000 words
Series: The Moonlight Curse series – Book 3 (finale)
Prior Reading: Prior reading is required
Genre: Fantasy/Romantasy
Tropes: Forbidden Love
Exiled Prince
Cursed Shifter
Opposites Attract
Past Lives / Love Across Time
Trigger/Content Warnings: A straight / heterosexual couple is featured in flashbacks
Pregnancy
Death of a child (off-page)
Fantasy-typical blood and gore
Designer: Lau “Baydews” Zs – https://www.baydews.com/
https://books2read.com/TheMoonlightCurse3
Exiled prince Brand Lykanos and his partner Valentino Vicari are living quietly in the tropics until fate drags them back to the kingdom they once fled. With a demonic curse looming over them, they agree to a perilous ruse: fake their execution to buy their freedom. But death, even staged, has consequences—and the deeper they dig into the curse’s origins, the clearer it becomes that it began long ago with another story of forbidden love.
A hundred years past, Felideran mage and assassin Valencia Vicari enters the enemy king’s castle in disguise expecting to meet a tyrant. Instead, she finds Castor Lykanos, a soft-spoken ruler haunted by his brother’s legacy and driven by desperation. As Valencia uncovers a dangerous secret she realizes she may be the savior her people need and the only one who can stop a curse from consuming the realm. It’s too bad her heart has other ideas.
As Brand and Valentino infiltrate an ancient cult, hoping to uncover a way to reverse the curse, they unknowingly follow in Valencia’s footsteps as she escapes from Castor’s castle with blood on her hands. When their paths converge on a haunted battlefield, past and present collide, binding them in blood, fire, and a final choice that could break the curse or destroy them all.
Moonlight and the Mirror is a romantic epic fantasy full of sharp-tongued banter, twisted legacies, and found family. Perfect for fans of Freya Marske and C.L. Polk, this is a tale of how love, in all its forms, can twist a soul or save it.
EXCERPT:
“My father was completely obsessed with her. But over time, it all twisted into something darker, something sick. He loved my mother so much, and yet he destroyed her.” Brand swallowed hard. “I was terrified it could happen to me. That one day, it’d happen to us. That even though I love you, somehow, I’d still ruin you.”
“Brand…” Valentino reached up and grabbed his shoulders, forcing the taller man to meet his gaze. Valentino gave him a sudden hard shake, his grip fierce. “You big, bloody idiot!”
Brand hesitated. “Uh, yeah?”
“The curse didn’t make your father a monster—it didn’t put the darkness there, Brand. He had it in him somewhere, buried deep. And perhaps the curse did allow that seed to grow, but… You won’t turn into your father. You don’t have it in you. I know you don’t! You love animals and children and telling stories. You love your sister. You love me. You love so hard it scares you, and that’s the difference. You’re terrified of losing control because it means something to you. Because we mean something to you.”
Brand let out an unsteady breath, eyes wide.
Valentino gave him another firm shake. “And if you ever do decide to ruin me, trust me, I’ll ruin you right back. Mutual destruction.”
Brand’s face shifted, the corners of his mouth tugging into the beginnings of a reluctant smile. “Sounds…dramatic.”
“Oh, there will be monologues. I’ll write them myself! It would make a fantastic romantic tragedy, I think. Like that puppet show that brought you to tears as a child.”
Brand chuckled softly. “That’d draw crowds, I’m sure.”
Valentino kept his grip on Brand’s shoulders, pulling him down so their foreheads bumped together with a little too much force. “And you, Brand Lykanos, are not your father. You are messy, infuriating, and too clever for your own damn good—but you’re not him. You could never be like him.”
Brand’s breath hitched, his voice no more than a whisper. “But what if—what if I hurt you anyway?”
Valentino brushed his lips against Brand’s cheek, lingering. “Then I’ll fight back. Every step of the way, tooth and nail, into that handbasket to the hells. Together.”
“Gods, I love you,” Brand muttered, voice laced with a kind of awed surrender.
“Well, of course you do. We’re both full of idiotic notions, aren’t we?”
Brand laughed again, tension leaving his body as he held Valentino tight, resting his chin atop his head.
about the author:
Evelynn Carver writes queer fantasy, romance, and other speculative fiction.
She recently moved to southern Japan with her partner, child, and various cats. In her free time, she reads genre fiction, plays video games, watches cartoons, and engages in other related unseemly behavior. She’s been writing and drawing stories since she was in grade school and would one day love to grow up to be a Real Author.
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