Throne of Nightmares

The novel opens with Prince Sloth, one of seven immortal Princes of Sin who rule the Underworld's Seven Circles, descending into a temple inside Mount Lyra on the Shifting Isles with his master librarian, Xavier. They retrieve the Liber Noctem, or Book of Nightmares, a black volume emblazoned with a golden phoenix that contains the bound power of Nyantha, the Goddess of Night. Nyantha was once a deity of dreams who became consumed by nightmares; the old gods stripped her power, sealed it into the book, and banished her spirit to Somnia, the dream realm. When Sloth touches the book, searing heat brands a phoenix tattoo across his torso and arms. Xavier reveals a hidden portal stone, shouts Nyantha's motto, Carpe Noctem, and vanishes with the book, having secretly served the goddess all along.

The story shifts to Lore Brimstone, a 24-year-old librarian in the port town of Bellington on the Shifting Isles. A devoted reader, Lore lives with her loving family, including her brother Fable, a university professor. At a traveling caravan festival, an ancient silver-haired woman calls Lore by name, asks if she is ready to face her fears in exchange for living her dreams, and presses a smooth stone into her palm. The stone glows and emits ribbons of shadow, and a portal engulfs Lore. A cloaked stranger grabs her arm just before they are both ripped to a mountaintop in an unfamiliar realm.

Enormous nightmare spiders called Lycosidae corner them. The stranger fights but is impaled through the side. Lore refuses to leave him; her shadow ribbons activate, transporting them to a meadow near a stone cabin. Jessa Maya, a character from one of Lore's novels brought to life, helps carry the stranger inside. He heals within an hour. The stone turns out to be a phoenix tear connected to a mythological phoenix whose mate was slain by one of Nyantha's creations. Sloth suspects Lore is a dreamweaver, a near-extinct being descended from Nyantha's bloodline, because only a dreamweaver can wield the phoenix tear.

Lore realizes the cabin matches a novel about a cannibal goblin, and Sloth concludes her power is bringing stories to life. When Jessa Maya attacks, they flee, and Sloth carries Lore to a hidden cave, nursing her through hypothermia. While she sleeps, Sloth projects into his enchanted Library at House Sloth, his Underworld domain. The Library, a sentient entity, reveals that the Trials of Unbinding have activated: a mechanism the old gods created as Nyantha's punishment, requiring a dreamweaver champion to undergo tests tailored to her deepest fears while Somnia locks down. That night, the Goddess of Night invades Sloth's dreams and stabs him with his own dagger.

Lore pulls the blade from Sloth's ribs and watches the wound heal. He reveals his identity and explains that if Lore loses the Trials, the book will overtake her mind, but if she wins, he can permanently rebind Nyantha's power. He trains Lore to build mental shields against the book's influence. The Trials unfold through stories Lore's power manifests. In a tavern from her novels, a dragon shifter named Logan Blaze arrives hunting his fated mate, with the book casting Lore in that role. Lore recognizes the test concerns desire and her fear of never being loved. She resists by anchoring herself in love for her family and shifts the scene.

The Liber Noctem hijacks the shift, depositing them into a Regency-era romance where Lore plays Lady Brimstone and Sloth plays Lord Winters. When the Marquess of Autumntide discovers them searching his library and draws a pistol, Lore instinctively kills him with a thrown dagger. Disturbing visions also intrude throughout this story: images of violence and betrayal that feel like someone else's memories, suggesting the book's growing influence. Sloth takes the blame for the murder and is sentenced to beheading. Lore refuses to abandon him, recognizing this test concerns loyalty and her fear of betrayal. At the execution, she uses the phoenix tear to transport them to a pirate ship.

On the ship, Sloth claims captaincy and Lore trains in swordfighting. Their attraction reaches a breaking point when Sloth kisses Lore, then pulls away, declaring it cannot happen again. A massive nightmare sea creature empowered by the Liber Noctem attacks and drags Lore underwater. She refuses to shift stories because doing so would strand Sloth, determining this test concerns hopelessness. Sloth dives in and frees her but stays behind with the creature. Lore swims to the Isle of the Damned.

Alone on the beach, Lore creates Teddy, a small sentient shadow creature. She is captured by Prince Leif Saxon, known as Conquest, a faerie horseman from another of her books. Conquest places her in a pen as prey for a hunt. Meanwhile, Sloth survives, washes ashore, and tracks Lore across the island, fighting through venomous specters that drive him toward feral instincts. During the hunt, Sloth finds Lore and they give in to their attraction. He realizes they share a mating bond, an unbreakable soul connection he never believed possible. When the horsemen attack, Sloth shields Lore, absorbing arrows from Death, another horseman. Lore's fury triggers a massive eruption of shadow magic that destroys Death, but she nearly loses herself to dark power. Sloth grounds her with a gentle touch.

The scene shifts to the Court of Fear, Nyantha's throne room. Sloth's eyes turn black as a voice not his own reveals the Liber Noctem has been using him as its host since the temple inside Mount Lyra. The phoenix tattoo was the book's ink bonding to his body, siphoning his magic throughout the Trials. When the spirit of Nyantha steps into Lore, memories flood in: Lore is Nyantha herself, whose soul the old gods split in two as punishment. One half was reborn as a mortal to experience fear and love; the other remained bound in Somnia. The Trials were designed to test whether Nyantha had truly changed, whether she would choose love over power.

The Liber Noctem creates two false endings that Lore rejects, her instincts as a reader rebelling against contrived resolutions. In the final confrontation, the book forces Lore to kill figures resembling her father and brother with a blade called Nightsblade. Through her grief, she notices Teddy winding around the hilt, drawing her attention to a socket that matches the phoenix tear. She fits the stone into the hilt and drives the blade into the phoenix tattoo on Sloth's chest. The book destroys itself in golden fire, freeing Aurora, the original phoenix imprisoned within it since Nyantha's downfall. The Court of Fear transforms into the Court of Daydreams. Sloth, his magic restored, unfurls his wings and fights alongside Lore to destroy the remaining Nocturna shadow warriors. Lore reshapes Somnia into a true dreamworld and transports them to House Sloth.

At House Sloth, Sloth's six brothers have gathered. He tells them of Xavier's betrayal, the Trials, the book's destruction, and the mating bond. Sloth leads Lore to the heart of his library beneath the ancient tree, where they consummate their bond and Sloth shares his true name, Cassiel. Three weeks later, Lore has established a romance book club with members including Sloth's brother Lust and the mates of other princes. Her parents and Fable are preparing to relocate to House Sloth. Lore reflects that all her wildest dreams have come true: She has her mate, her family, her books, and forever.