Blood Bound

Blood Bound (2026) is the first novel in the Cursed Covenant trilogy by Ellis Hunter, the pen name for British writing duo Katie Ellis-Brown and Becky Hunter. The romantasy novel follows two young women from warring kingdoms: Astrid, the witch princess of Arturea, and Skylar, a cynical street performer in Vatra. Bound by an ancient magical contract, the two are forced into a fight to the death to determine which of their nations will control the Heart, their world’s source of magic. As political intrigue and hidden histories unravel, their fated rivalry transforms into a powerful and unexpected alliance. The novel explores themes including The Ecological Costs of Greed, The Amoral Nature of Power, and, most centrally, The Subversive Potential of Female Friendship.

Written as a love letter to the 2020s romantasy genre, the book engages with and subverts popular tropes. While featuring a central romance, the story deliberately elevates the platonic bond between its two female protagonists, a dynamic inspired by the authors’ own real-life friendship, to be the most important and world-altering relationship. The narrative also addresses contemporary issues through its fantasy lens, using a magical plague known as the Blight as an allegory for the climate crisis.

This guide refers to the 2026 Atria Books edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, illness, death, death by suicide, animal death, sexual content, cursing, mental illness, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.

Plot Summary

Astrid Nachstern, witch princess and heir to the throne of Arturea, has been training all her life for a fateful duel. Mandated by a magical Covenant, Astrid must fight Prince Zryan, the dragon-rider heir of the southern continent of Vatra, to the death. The victor’s kingdom will gain control of the Heart, the infinite source of all magic in their world. Astrid’s preparation is hampered by a magical block on her battle casting, a trauma response from accidentally killing her father with a defensive spell years prior. As the novel begins, an assassin attacks Astrid in the woods near her mountain sanctuary, and she is saved by her personal guard, Jessa. Astrid feels grateful for the rescue but is also reminded of her inability to perform battle magic. She draws solace from the fact that she has recently found her familiar—a spirit companion in animal form—in a cat named Bastet.

The attack on Astrid prompts Astrid’s mother, Queen Guinevere, to begin their journey to Vatra’s capital, Talrok, for the pre-duel ceremonies. Meanwhile, in Talrok, a gifted knife-thrower named Skylar performs with a traveling troupe of performing artists. Her best friend, Cam, who can use a magic called Projection, has vanished. Skylar suspects Cam has been taken under King Zachary de Veras’s new conscription order, which forces Blooded (magic-wielders) into the royal army. Defying her troupe leader, Aldric, Skylar sets out to find Cam, but Aldric betrays her, leading her into a trap where the Arturean queen’s agents capture her.

Upon arriving in Talrok, Astrid’s party is met with a terrifying display of power from King Zachary and his son, Prince Zryan, who ride their ice and thunder dragons, Bruma and Mjolnir, over the city. At the welcome feast, Queen Guinevere stuns the Vatran court, including Zachary’s wife, Queen Ottilie, by presenting a captive Skylar, declaring her the king’s secret, firstborn daughter and thus the true heir who must fight the duel. The claim is magically verified by the Covenant, a magical document. Zryan’s name vanishes from the contract and is replaced by Skylar de Veras. Furious, King Zachary declares Skylar an impostor and orders her execution, but Mjolnir intervenes, shielding Skylar and declaring to everyone’s minds, “She is not to be hurt” (82). Mjolnir’s approval acting as a final endorsement, Skylar is declared the heir that Astrid must fight. Skylar is also invited to touch a fire-dragon’s egg to test if she is the prophesized once-in-a-millennium heir who will usher in a new era of peace, but the egg remains unhatched. 

Now fated to duel, Astrid and Skylar undergo the Blood Binding ritual, which links their mortality to each other for six weeks in the run-up to the duel, to prevent assassination attempts. Skylar begins a brutal training regimen under Zryan and his close friend, a noble named Axel. She is informed she will be sent to Isla Draka, the dragon island, to attempt the deadly trial of bonding with her own dragon. Astrid, meanwhile, continues her training while secretly investigating the Heart, believing it is the cause of the Blight, a magical plague ravaging Arturea. She and Zryan develop a tense, flirtatious rapport during clandestine meetings. After Zryan thwarts an assassination attempt on Astrid, they learn that she possesses the rare Amplifier Gift, allowing her to boost the magic of others. The two grow closer, their attraction undeniable.

Skylar and Astrid become friends as well, even though they are supposed to be enemies. In a growing alliance, Astrid helps Skylar break into the king’s office, where they discover a register of conscripted Blooded that shows Cam has been sent to “the Heart.” Finding the location of the Heart now becomes a top priority for Skylar and Astrid. Meanwhile, during her visit to the dragon island, Skylar discovers that she is an Exhauster, a magic-wielder who can drain life-force. Despite the discovery of her formidable power, Skylar is dejected because she is unable to find a single dragon with whom she bonds. Mjolnir assures her that she is a rider and will eventually find a dragon who will call to her. 

Back in the capital, on a hunch, Skylar returns to the fire-dragon egg, placing her hands over it for a long interval. The egg hatches, and a baby fire-dragon emerges and bonds with Skylar. Skylar names the hatchling Kaida. Since Kaida will still be too young to ride alongside Skylar in the duel, Mjolnir offers to be her stand-in. 

At an event known as the Masked Ball, an assassin mistakes Jessa for Astrid and murders her. In the ensuing chaos, Astrid’s secret cat familiar, Bastet, transforms into a giant winged panther, the legendary creature of her royal house. Skylar’s Exhauster power erupts as she pursues and kills Jessa’s murderer. On the eve of the duel, Astrid invites Zryan to her chambers. They have sex, declaring their intense feelings for each other. Zryan tells Astrid that he chooses her above everyone else. The next morning, Mjolnir fails to appear for Skylar, forcing her to enter the arena cage with Kaida, while the formidable Bastet accompanies Astrid.

Inside the cage, Skylar cruelly goads Astrid, hoping to force her into a killing blow so that Astrid will survive. Seeing through the ruse and unwilling to kill her, Astrid refuses. Both heirs drop their weapons, resolving to defy the Covenant and die together. At this moment, a magical mate mark—a living flame—appears on Astrid’s forehead, while a constellation appears on Skylar’s. They are mates, a platonic bond of soul that satisfies the Covenant’s decree that a cage match ends when “two must become one” (88). The cage dissolves, and both Astrid and Skylar are left alive. 

Immediately, they are attacked by the Dreki, the royal elite guards. Skylar and Astrid escape, as Mjolnir telepathically conveys to Skylar the reason he was missing at the duel: The king and queen have captured Zyran as the prince is the leader of the rebels. Deciding Zryan must be held at the Heart, Astrid and Skylar reach its location. They find Zryan chained to a wall. As they try to free him, Queen Ottilie, Zryan’s mother, walks in. Astrid and Skylar realize that Ottilie has laid a trap for them. As they try to cast magic against the queen they fail; Ottilie reveals that she a Prime Nullifier, a magic-user who can suppress others’ powers. It is Ottilie who orchestrated the assassination attempts on Astrid, so she could get rid of both Astrid and Skylar and secure Zryan as the future king. An angry Zryan lashes out against his mother for her manipulation. 

Ottilie then reveals the world-altering truth: The Heart was stolen two decades ago. To hide its absence and power Vatra, Ottilie has been imprisoning Blooded “Champions” (such as Cam) and draining them of their life force, a process that kills them. She believes the Heart was taken to another world by its fabled creators, Aeloria and Nyx, and she needs Skylar’s mother’s hairpin—which is actually a witch wand—to open a portal and retrieve it. A battle erupts. Axel, who was complicit with the queen, holds Astrid hostage, forcing Skylar to kill him. Just as Ottilie’s forces close in, Mjolnir smashes through the arena dome. Suddenly, a mysterious black lunar dragon appears, its rider a beautiful, shadowy man. He aids Skylar, but it is a trap; he captures Kaida and pulls Skylar onto his dragon. Using the wand, he rips a hole in the sky and flies through, taking Skylar to another world. 

Horrified, Astrid uses her Amplifier gift to boost Zryan’s Teleporting power, enabling him and Mjolnir to follow Skylar through the portal just before it closes. Recalling Skylar’s last mental message to her—Wand. Unlock—Astrid realizes she can use her own wand with the unlocking spell, “Avask,” to open another portal. She and Bastet fly through, emerging in a lush, alien jungle under a night sky. The portal seals behind them, and as Astrid takes in her new surroundings, she finds herself surrounded by an army of Exhausters, trapped and alone in a hostile new world.