Roots of Ruin: The Venom Apothecary Book 2

He needs a banned potion. She needs answers. The price of both might be their lives. Caelum Ashford has been hiding a secret beneath his enforcer's uniform: his mother has been comatose for fifteen years, poisoned by the Guild she served. The only cure is a memory-restoration brew so illegal that brewing it carries a death sentence. He needs Sera Voss. And Sera needs him-because Caelum's enforcer access can unlock the sealed files surrounding her grandmother's murder. Their uneasy bargain sends them into the Ashfields-a twisted wasteland where hallucinations reveal your deepest fears-and then into the heart of the Citadel itself. But the deeper they dig, the more dangerous the truth becomes. A single whispered word from Caelum's mother's lips changes everything: Voidwell. A place beneath the Citadel where the Sundering began. A place Sera's grandmother died trying to reach. And someone in the Guild knows they're looking. reluctant allies - forced proximity - touch-starved hero - mutual pining - slow burn - quest for the cure - gothic fantasy