Branded ‘soulless’ for her ability to see and harvest the energy left behind by death, Ciel knows how she’ll spend the rest of her short life: she’ll gather the souls her realm requires for the war effort, and she’ll return each day to face the brutal punishment her blasphemous job requires. 

When a soulmate bond links Ciel with the notoriously vicious enemy commander, Merrick, he risks crossing the river to claim her. And bring her back to his land, which runs on the power of tortured souls. 

What Ciel sees as impossible—she has no soul to mate with—her convent sees as another way to use her. They pack her off as a spy, with instructions to uncover the weapon they’re sure Commander Merrick is developing. 

But the more Ciel learns about Commander Merrick and his land, the more questions arise. Why do his people honor the memory of the dragons who abandoned the continent so long ago? Why are their hospitals empty, the sick cured in days—when her own country struggles with plague and disease? 

And, as her feelings for him grow more complicated: why did Merrick claim her at all, when he’s determined to reject the soulmate bond? 

River of Souls is the first book in a heartrending romantasy trilogy, perfect for fans of Devney Perry’s Shield of Sparrows, Rachel Gillig’s The Knight and the Moth, and Danielle Jensen’s The Bridge Kingdom.