The Catastrophic Miscalculation of Tallis Korvek

It begins on a deathbed, with Tallis Korvek’s father dramatically gasping out a final command: destroy the Vantari bloodline. World-weary and thoroughly sick of politics, Tallis opts for a lazy, long-con approach. He infiltrates the isolated, heavily burdened life of Nimira Vantari, posing as a sympathetic friend. Over a year of shared secrets, terrible tea, and midnight rants, Tallis ignores his growing feelings to spring his trap. At the Winter Gala, he invokes the ancient Rite of Ruin by announcing his marriage to Nimira's worst enemy, expecting Nimira to be banished in absolute disgrace. Except, Tallis didn't read the Rite's ancient syntax. Instead of destroying her, the spell legally transfers all of Nimira's family curses, assassination targets, and exhaustion directly onto him, while granting her total freedom. Nimira simply says "Thank you" and vanishes. Left in an agonizingly empty estate, shackled to a fiancé he loathes and a grumpy six-legged badger who aggressively misses Nimira, Tallis realizes he is hopelessly, desperately in love. Now he must burn down his own faction and scour the continent to find her, drop to his knees, and beg for the heart he just tried to break. Will he survive his own trap long enough to win her back?