Carissa Broadbent’s 2023 romantasy novella, Six Scorched Roses, is set within her Crowns of Nyaxia universe. It was originally published in the 2022 romance anthology Flirting with Darkness before its standalone release. The narrative follows Lilith, a brilliant terminally ill scientist who is desperately searching for a cure for the divine plague destroying her town and her younger sister. Believing the key lies in the supernatural, she makes a dangerous bargain with Vale, a reclusive and ancient vampire. She offers him six unique, magically touched roses in exchange for six vials of his blood for her research. The novella explores themes of The Negotiation of Monstrosity and Humanity, The Evolution of Transactional Intimacy into Mutual Love and Respect, and Mortality as the Ultimate Motivator.

This guide is based on the 2024 Bramble edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide feature depictions of graphic violence, sexual content, sexual harassment, bullying, ableism, religious discrimination, animal death, ableism, cursing, illness, and death.

Plot Summary

The narrator is a scientist named Lilith, and her life has been defined by close encounters with death. She was born sickly and frail. When she was eight, her mother died giving birth to her sister, Mina. When Lilith was 15, her hometown’s crops failed, and her father cursed Vitarus, the god of abundance and decay. In retaliation, Vitarus cursed the town of Adcova with a plague that slowly turns its victims’ skin to dust. Lilith’s father was the first to die. Now 30, Lilith dedicates her life to finding a cure for the plague so that she can save Mina.

Believing that vampire blood could hold the answers she seeks, Lilith travels to a remote, intimidating mansion in the woods near her town. She is confronted by the mansion’s owner, a centuries-old vampire named Vale. Lilith proposes a deal: She needs his blood for her research. In exchange, she’ll give him six black roses with red-outlined petals from a unique cluster of bushes in her fields. Intrigued, Vale agrees. Lilith draws four vials of his dark blood, noting that his skin heals with incredible speed. They discuss their differing views on knowledge, and Vale declares that curiosity is far more precious.

Lilith returns home and uses a magical “seeing lens” to study Vale’s blood, which she finds beautiful and full of vitality. When Mina discovers her, Lilith hides her work and rejects her sister’s plea to spend time together. Consumed by her research, Lilith travels to the city of Baszia to consult her colleague and former lover, Farrow. He is amazed by the blood sample but quickly deduces its vampiric origin. Vitarus and the other gods of the White Pantheon despise the goddess Nyaxia and the vampires she created, and Farrow is horrified by the blasphemy and danger of Lilith’s work. Farrow begs her to seek another solution with him, but Lilith remains convinced her path is the only option.

Lilith makes her second visit to Vale’s mansion and finds him having sex with another vampire. Flustered but fascinated, she watches from his doorway. Vale teases her as she gives him the second rose and draws his blood. He reveals he is a “Born” vampire from the House of Night and that “Turned” vampires are considered impure. As she prepares to leave, Lilith admires a set of large wing bones on the wall. Vale confirms he is of the feather-winged Rishan clan and that the bones belonged to a rival Hiaj general he killed. He explains he was a general who was defeated in a war 200 years ago, which is why he left his homeland of Obitraes. Vale offers to let her stay the night and comments on his attraction to her. Though tempted, Lilith pushes him away and returns home to find Mina’s condition has severely worsened.

After three more weeks of relentless work, Lilith creates a formula that prevents the death of an ailing lab rat. She runs out of blood and decides to visit Vale early. While traveling through a storm, she is ambushed by five starving men. Vale appears and brutally kills them. During the fight, Lilith is stabbed and loses consciousness. She awakens three days later in Vale’s mansion, too ill to travel. He promises to send a human messenger to check on Mina. While she recovers, he reads her books on Obitraen history, and they grow closer. While exploring the mansion, Lilith finds a room full of weapons. Vale explains he kept them so they couldn’t be used against his former soldiers. Their flirtation intensifies as she draws his blood for the third time.

Their time together is interrupted by a magical messenger from Obitraes. The letter infuriates Vale because he has already refused several earlier requests for him to lead the Rishan in a war to retake their throne. Lilith confronts him, passionately arguing that refusing to help his people out of “principle” is selfish. Moved by her conviction, Vale asks to see his blood through her lens. He is awed and offers her his unconditional help. They work together for a week, growing intellectually and emotionally intimate as he translates ancient texts for her. When Lilith returns home, Mina notes her sister’s increasing closeness to Vale and warns her to be careful.

Lilith and Vale begin exchanging letters daily, and their bond deepens. As Mina’s health continues to decline, she finds comfort in visits from Thomassen, the head priest of Vitarus. With Vale’s help, Lilith discovers a crucial piece of information that allows her to perfect her formula, and she creates a medicine that cures her lab rats.

Just as she succeeds, Farrow arrives in a panic. He warns her that Thomassen and Vitarus’s acolytes are coming to kill Vale, whom they blame for the plague. Mina is furious that Lilith plans to go to Vale instead of fleeing and confronts her. Seeing that her sister is near death, Lilith injects her with the untested cure. Farrow insists on accompanying Lilith, and they hurry to the mansion together.

Vale kills several of his attackers, but Lilith finds him grievously wounded, burned by the sun, and cornered by Thomassen and his remaining men. She shields Vale with her body, and Thomassen prepares to kill them both. Lilith mortally wounds the priest with an axe but is stabbed in the chaos. Vale musters his remaining strength to kill the other men and then rips out the priest’s heart before collapsing. Lilith and Farrow drag him inside, away from the sun. They realize a vampire killing a high priest will likely draw Vitarus’s wrath. Lilith gives Farrow the cure she developed and instructs him to take it to Adcova while she stays to tend to Vale and burn the bodies. As Vale recovers, he tells Lilith he has decided to return to Obitraes to fight for his people because she inspired him. Lilith confesses she is dying from her own illness, and he tells her he will accept whatever time she is willing to give him. They make love.

The next morning, they see the sky warping, a sign of Vitarus’s arrival over Adcova. Lilith urges Vale to flee and hurries back to her town. She finds a seemingly cured Mina standing in their fields before Vitarus. The god reveals a shocking truth: Lilith’s father made a deal, trading the town’s health for fertile soil, the magical roses, and a prolonged life for the sickly Lilith. The plague was the price of this bargain. As Vale flies to her aid, Lilith strikes a new bargain with the god, offering to return everything her father was given, including her life. Vitarus accepts and kisses her, and her illness rapidly progresses. As she dies, Vale reaches her and asks if she wants to live. With her last breath, she says yes. He bites her and feeds her his blood, beginning the process of Turning her into a vampire.

After weeks in a painful, dreamlike state, Lilith awakens as a newly Turned vampire. Vale explains that he returned for her because he felt he was making a mistake in leaving. This feeling was confirmed when he noticed one of the god-touched roses withering, a sign her life was fading. He tells her the cure worked and that Adcova is free from the plague. A healthy Mina appears for an emotional reunion and encourages Lilith to go with Vale and finally live for herself. After Mina departs, Lilith fulfills her deal with Vale by giving him the sixth and final rose, which is now withered. Vale asks her to accompany him to the war-torn House of Night. She accepts without hesitation, and they embrace, ready to face their future together.