Overview

A Gothic Romantasy Novella, approximately 26,500 words / 124 print pages, and Book One of The Blood Oath Cycle. This short, intense, fast-moving series opener is designed as a concentrated first entry into the world, with a complete central romantic and curse-breaking resolution. The wider world expands in Book Two, The Ash-Bound Daughter, a full-length novel. She was chosen as a bride. She came as a healer. Every thirteen years, beneath a Blood Moon, Alderfen offers a bride to the Unnamed King, ensuring that the curse remains bound and the village continues to survive. This year, the lot falls on Liora Hale, a healer-and more importantly, not her little sister. In the square, before everyone she has ever known, Liora is asked the only question that matters-do you consent? She agrees and is swiftly taken into the King's realm. To her surprise, the Unnamed King is not the mindless beast Alderfen fears. In fact, he's named Kael-the name the temple uses because his real one was stolen-an immortal king bound in iron chains and forced to bleed for an Oath he did not forge. In his fortress, pain has a voice, and the curse has a hunger. Brides do not simply die; they become part of what is waiting. Liora refusesobedience. She asksthe questions no one survives asking, and the fortress answers with whispers, Remnants of those who came before her and never truly left. The deeper she goes, the clearer the truth becomes. Names are power, and ""bride"" is only the prettiest chain. To see dawn, Liora and the chained king must descend into the bones of the curse, toward the Heart of the Oath and the bone-rooted altar beneath it, and decide what they are willing to claim back. His name, her life. It's their choice. For readers who want: Gothic atmosphere, a healer heroine, a chained false-monster king, sacrificial bride ritual, corrupt priesthood, true-name magic, dangerous-before-safe devotion, and a complete novella-length romantic fantasy arc. Content note: Adult. Not YA. Contains open-door romantic content, dark ritual imagery, supernatural violence, and captivity themes.

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Reviews

Praise for The Bone Altar Bride ""A sense of tension and dread permeates the narrative. It makes the story all the more immersive ... This is the perfect novella for dark fantasy readers."" --Pikasho Deka, Readers' Favorite 5-Star Review ""E. C. Gregory has a very atmospheric writing style that makes the whole glass-and-iron setting feel very eerie. I liked the back-and-forth and romantic chemistry between Liora and Kael."" --Richard Prause, Readers' Favorite 5-Star Review ""Even as a novella, this story is intensely beautiful ... The themes of defiance and choice saturate the pages, helping to deliver a phenomenal plot."" --Ronél Steyn, Readers' Favorite 5-Star Review ""The Bone Altar Bride is a riveting tale ... Highly recommended for readers who love fantasy with some serious moral and intellectual heft."" --S. Mathur, Readers' Favorite 5-Star Review

Praise for The Bone Altar Bride ""A sense of tension and dread permeates the narrative. It makes the story all the more immersive ... This is the perfect novella for dark fantasy readers."" --Pikasho Deka, Readers' Favorite 5-Star Review ""E. C. Gregory has a very atmospheric writing style that makes the whole glass-and-iron setting feel very eerie. I liked the back-and-forth and romantic chemistry between Liora and Kael."" --Richard Prause, Readers' Favorite 5-Star Review ""Even as a novella, this story is intensely beautiful ... The themes of defiance and choice saturate the pages, helping to deliver a phenomenal plot."" --Ronél Steyn, Readers' Favorite 5-Star Review ""The Bone Altar Bride is a riveting tale ... Highly recommended for readers who love fantasy with some serious moral and intellectual heft."" --S. Mathur, Readers' Favorite 5-Star Review ""The Bone Altar Bride packs an incredibly powerful supernatural and horror punch. E. C. Gregory's story has genuine depth, intense fear, and thrilling excitement."" ―Grant Leishman, Readers' Favorite 5-Star Review

Author Information

E. C. Gregory writes adult romance across two lanes-gothic, atmospheric romantasy with steamy open-door heat in a lyrical, euphemistic register; and razor-intimate contemporary love stories shaped by emotion, tempo, and payoff. Classically trained as a pianist, vocalist, and flutist, he brings rhythm, breath, and stage-light tension to fiction that balances sensuality with emotional precision. Currently, he lives in Connecticut with his Samoyeds, Levi and Lucy.

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