The Gloaming Snare

Ilypha’s ordinary morning began with a shattered tea-glass and a chilling knock on her door. Ruined by her treacherous ex-fiancé Jorlan and desperate to build a sanctuary for the street orphans of Tarnstead, the shy but stubbornly idealistic Ilypha accepts a rushed arranged marriage orchestrated by a scheming elder. Due to a deception in the paperwork, she marries a man using a fake name - Rhyzan, who claims to be a simple, penniless ink-maker. He is quiet, intensely doting, and seems content to watch her build her dream. What Ilypha doesn't know is that Rhyzan is secretly the Lord of Varnoth, the phantom billionaire secretly funding her non-profit from the shadows. As Jorlan cruelly flaunts his new wealthy fiancée - blissfully unaware she is merely the lowest-ranking clerk in Rhyzan’s sprawling empire - Ilypha's orphanage begins to flourish beyond her wildest dreams. Money pours in, rival factions vanish in the mist, and Rhyzan is always there with a warm cup of tea and a tender, lingering gaze. But as the walls of her grand new sanctuary rise higher, isolating her in a remote wing of his misty estate, a terrifying realization dawns. Is her perfect husband building her a heaven, or a beautifully inescapable cage?