Eldritch (2025), a dark-romantasy novel by Keri Lake, is the sequel to Anathema. The two novels were intended to form a duology, though Lake has announced that there will be a third novel, Vasmora. Lake is a USA Today and New York Times best-selling author in the dark-romantasy genre; her works include the Nightshade Duology, the Sandman Duet, Juniper Unraveling, and Nocticadia.

In Eldritch, as the mortal Maevyth and the cursed immortal mage Zevander uncover the source of the infection spreading across Mortasia, they discover their respective connections to gods, fate, and each other. Meanwhile, Kazhimyr and Ravezio, Zevander’s friends and fellow assassins, try to locate Zevander and Maevyth while avoiding the oncoming war. The novel explores How Abuse Manifests as Trauma, The Importance of Vulnerability in Relationships, and The Brutality of Unquestioned Authority.

This guide refers to the Kindle 2025 edition, published by Keri Lake.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, illness, death, child death, child abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, bullying, racism, animal death, sexual violence, rape, mental illness, death by suicide, suicidal ideation and self-harm, substance use, and sexual content.

Plot Summary

Long ago, in the kingdom of Solassios, after Zevander Rydainn’s father, Lord Rydainn, hid King Jeret’s children born out of wedlock, Lord Rydainn and Zevander were imprisoned in the Solassion mines. Lord Rydainn was killed; Zevander met Torryn, Kazhimyr, Ravezio, and Theron. General Loyce, a Bellatryx warrior in the Solassion army, purchased Zevander as an enslaved servant. Loyce tortured and sexually abused Zevander for centuries.

During Zevander’s torture, he drifted into the dream realm of Caligorya, where an old man, Alastor, taught him how to use magic and showed him visions of a young, dark-haired girl (later revealed to be Maevyth Bronwick), with whom Zevander fell in love. Alastor insisted on teaching Zevander an eldritch glyph, which Zevander struggled to remember. Alastor forbade Zevander from touching the dark-haired girl. When Zevander disobeyed and contacted her, Alastor punished him by removing his memories of Caligorya. After centuries of abuse, King Jeret exchanged Zevander for military support from the kingdom of Nyxteros. Zevander bargained for Kazhimyr, Ravezio, and Torryn to be freed, as well, but Loyce kept Theron.

In the present, Maevyth and Zevander find Maevyth’s sister, Aleysia, comatose in the Crone Witch Elowen’s crawlspace. They learn that a mysterious infection that turns people into violent, spider-like creatures threatens Mortasia; Aleysia is in the early stages of infection. While they are trapped, Zevander hallucinates; he is in withdrawal from vivicantem, a nutrient he needs for his blood magic. When Aleysia wakes up, they decide to search for vivicantem in the house of Moros, the wealthy man to whom Maevyth was once promised in marriage. Maevyth learns a glyph that allows her to summon Raivox, her Corvugon, or draconic creature.

Aleysia, Maevyth, Zevander, and Raivox explore an empty, infected Foxglove Parish, the mortal town where Aleysia and Maevyth grew up. After coming up empty at Moros’s house, they head to the temple. Zevander gets distracted by a vision of Theron and kills him, and he’s also plagued by visions of Loyce threatening to torture Maevyth. At the temple, Zevander fights a vision of Theron again, this time trapping him in a vault. Maevyth and Aleysia find their father in a cell and rescue him, and they also rescue Corwin, a man who worked at the tavern in Foxglove.

Just then, Sacton Crain appears. He orders the townspeople, who treated Maevyth and her sister viciously when they were growing up and have now been living in a tomb under the temple since the infection began, to burn Maevyth, Aleysia, their father, and Corwin. Zevander saves them, and Maevyth kills Crain when he admits to killing her mother.

Later, Maevyth and Zevander have sex. Zevander reveals his need for pain to experience pleasure, but when Maevyth hurts Zevander during sex, she feels guilty.

After Zevander kills all the remaining townspeople with his scorpions, the group heads for Lyveria to find vivicantem. Along the way, Maevyth’s father warns them about a haunted village on their path, but Zevander insists that they stop there anyway. In the night, a ghost tells Maevyth about vyrmish, or pale apes that eat people. A hole appears in the ground, and vyrmish crawl out and attack. Zevander’s magic is weakening, and Maevyth’s father is injured. As Raivox struggles to protect Maevyth, the ghost tells her how to use her bone whip crack the ground, which kills the vyrmish. Maevyth falls unconscious and wakes up days later in a village in the Lyverian mountains.

The priestess Erithanya uses Maevyth’s blood to cure Aleysia’s infection. Erithanya explains that Maevyth is the Vasmora, the vessel of the death goddess Morsana. The Lyverians are Corvikae, a mortal tribe thought to be extinct who have draconic blood. Erithanya wants Maevyth to mate with Lyverian warriors to strengthen their blood. Maevyth refuses, saying that she’s meant to be with Zevander. Erithanya puts Maevyth in the dead sablefyre vein, a lava stream that used to flow with a divine element. When the vein warms with Zevander’s sablefyre, Erithanya accepts Maevyth and her decision.

At night, Zevander enters Caligorya, draws the Rotting Tree on the wall, and follows Alastor into the dead vein. Alastor is revealed to be Cadavros, the disgraced mage who was the main antagonist of the first novel in the series. Cadavros made a pact with the pestilence god Pestilios, with whom Cadavros and Zevander share a connection. Cadavros shows Zevander the eldritch glyph, gives him vivicantem, and disappears. Zevander finds himself at Theron’s vault and realizes that the Theron he’s been fighting was only a vision. Zevander finds the Rotting Tree, the heart of Pestilios’s domain, and enters it.

Maevyth wakes up to find Zevander gone. In the night, the vein reignited. Erithanya shows Maevyth how to ride Raivox, and Maevyth’s father and Aleysia give her their blessing to return to Aethyria. Raivox brings Maevyth to the Rotting Tree, where she finds Cadavros, now a wrathavor demon. She tricks him into having Zevander consume her blood. Her blood cures Zevander of the infection, which is what connected him to Pestilios and Cadavros.

Meanwhile, in Aethyria, after narrowly escaping a riot, Zevander’s allies Kazhimyr and Ravezio meet up with Dravien and make their way to Calyxar, where they run into Dolion, Rykaia, Torryn, and Allura. The group’s shifting loyalties are tested. Dravien tries to kill the ancient mage Dolion for Loyce, but Dolion saves Dravien and orders him to help Kazhimyr and Ravezio find Zevander. As Ravezio, Kazhimyr, and Dravien travel, Loyce briefly captures Dravien, but Kazhimyr and Ravezio save Dravien and incapacitate Loyce. They pass into Mortasia, find the Rotting Tree with Raivox outside, and enter it.

After Kazhimyr helps Zevander and Maevyth out of the Rotting Tree, they join Ravezio, Dravien, and Raivox in fighting off spiders in the Eating Woods. Zevander uses the eldritch glyph to open the Umbravale momentarily, allowing Kazhimyr, Dravien, and Maevyth to escape. Cadavros kills Ravezio, but Zevander strikes Cadavros down. Spiders overwhelm Zevander, who falls into the chasm between Aethyria and Mortasia. As Maevyth grieves Zevander’s death, she, Dravien, and Kazhimyr are attacked and captured by Loyce and Solassion soldiers. In the chasm, as Zevander clings onto a rock, Raivox comes to save him.