Sarah Vespertine

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A Grave of Chains

This is a queer gothic romantasy about survival when escape isn’t an option. Emotionally devastating, it explores brutal power dynamics, manipulation disguised as love, and the slow, agonizing fight to reclaim the self. It's told through a gay perspective, so often erased from stories of abuse. This is a tale for readers who crave ruinous devotion, broken characters, and hope carved from suffering

Bodies can be broken, but souls can be destroyed.

Kowén is a gifted sculptor whose belief in compassion and love leads him into captivity. Drawn into the orbit of a seductive illusionist who whispers love while leading him into the claws of a devil, Kowén trades freedom for belonging. What begins as protection, creativity, and desire turns into possession. Kowén is reshaped into something owned through manipulation and cruel intimacy, as love is weaponized, and autonomy is stripped away.

Inside his shattered mind, another war unfolds. Avyr, an incubus bound by mysterious purpose, wanders the ruins of Kowén’s psyche. Through frozen memories, fractured timelines, and buried pain, Avyr searches for the man lost beneath the weight of obedience and trauma. Reality fractures with illusion as angels, devils, and Death itself circle what remains of Kowén’s soul, each claiming a different right to him.

A GRAVE OF CHAINS is a queer gothic romantasy about survival when escape isn’t an option—only endurance is. Dark, intimate, and emotionally devastating, it explores brutal power dynamics, manipulation disguised as love, and the slow, agonizing fight to reclaim the self. It is told through a gay protagonist’s perspective, so often erased from stories of abuse and survival. This is a tale for readers who crave ruinous devotion, broken characters, and hope carved from suffering. This is not a tale of rescue, but of survival that refuses to die.