In a world where the gods have seemingly turned their backs on the faithful, Lilith has lived her entire life in the shadow of her own mortality. Diagnosed with a terminal illness long ago, she has made peace with her fading vitality, but she cannot extend that same stoicism to her community. When a mysterious, god-cursed plague known as the "Wither" begins to decimate her village, Lilith is forced to abandon the quiet of her laboratory and seek out the very creatures the heavens despise most.
Her solution is a desperate trade: six of her rarest, most carefully cultivated roses in exchange for six vials of vampire blood, which she believes holds the key to a cure. However, the recipient of her offer is not just any monster, but Vale—a powerful, ancient vampire whose interests go far beyond the floral. What begins as a clinical, desperate transaction quickly shifts into a complex game of intellectual sparring and moral ambiguity, as Lilith discovers that the price of salvation for her people involves walking directly into the lion's den of the Nightborn.
Set in the broader universe of the Crowns of Nyaxia, the setting of this novella is defined by the tension between the mortal and the eternal. The village of Oakhaven is a place of dwindling hope, suffering under a supernatural sickness that defies traditional medicine. Broadbent establishes a world where the gods are not benevolent protectors but distant, often cruel entities whose "curses" manifest as physical decay. Opposing this divine order are the vampires—creatures of shadow who possess the literal lifeblood the humans need to survive, creating a biological and political hierarchy where humans are little more than desperate supplicants or prey.
The narrative focuses heavily on Lilith’s internal journey from a woman resigned to her fate to a woman seizing agency through forbidden knowledge. Unlike many protagonists who fear death, Lilith’s motivation is driven by her existing proximity to it; she has nothing left to lose, which makes her uniquely dangerous in negotiations with a predator like Vale. Their relationship develops through a shared intellectual curiosity—a "meeting of the minds" that occurs in the quiet, tense hours of their bargain. This creates a dynamic where the power imbalance of vampire versus mortal is constantly challenged by the power imbalance of someone who needs nothing versus someone who wants to understand.
The story utilizes the classic "deal with the devil" trope but anchors it in the mechanics of science and botany rather than purely magical whimsy. While it leans into the Gothic atmosphere of a dark castle and a brooding immortal, it subverts the "damsel in distress" archetype by making Lilith the primary mover of the plot. She isn't a victim of her circumstances; she is the architect of a dangerous pact. The narrative explores the "Beauty and the Beast" dynamic not through a lens of taming a monster, but through two lonely, brilliant individuals finding a rare intellectual peer in the most unlikely of places.
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15 books in catalog
Bloodshed, political maneuvering, and the brutal cost of survival define the landscapes of modern romantic fantasy, where high-stakes conflicts extend far beyond matters of the heart. Fantasy author Carissa Broadbent has built a wide readership in this competitive genre by subjecting her protagonists to the grim realities of power, legacy, and systemic violence. She is widely recognized for The Serpent and the Wings of Night, an epic vampire tournament novel that launched her best-selling Crowns of Nyaxia universe.
Her expansive catalog blends high-tension epic fantasy plots with intense romantic arcs, establishing her as a prominent voice in contemporary speculative fiction across both independent and traditional publishing spaces.
Based in Rhode Island, where she lives with her husband, her son, a perpetually skeptical cat, and a badly behaved rabbit, Carissa Broadbent began writing dark, mercilessly grim stories around the age of nine. This early preoccupation with dark fiction eventually matured into a disciplined approach to epic fantasy world-building. Before transitioning into writing as a full-time profession, she worked in the healthcare industry. That professional background provided her with a nuanced understanding of human vulnerability, physical trauma, and psychological resilience—elements that deeply inform her character development and thematic depth.
Broadbent initially published her work independently, entering the literary landscape with self-published releases such as her 2017 novel A Palace Fractured. She steadily cultivated a dedicated fanbase in the indie fantasy community as her self-publishing earnings grew from covering routine utility bills to generating consistent four-figure paychecks. Her breakthrough reached a broader digital audience through platforms like BookTok, where readers praised her intricate world-building, high-stakes political intrigue, and morally complex characters. This grassroots momentum culminated in major commercial success and substantial reader demand.
Her rapid commercial ascent caught the attention of legacy publishers, leading to major deals with traditional houses including Tor Publishing Group and Pan Macmillan. In July 2023, Bramble, a romance-focused imprint of Tor, acquired her body of work to publish original installments in the Crowns of Nyaxia series alongside new traditional editions of her backlist titles. Now a #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Broadbent's transition from self-publishing to traditional publishing is frequently highlighted in industry publications such as Publishers Weekly as a prime example of independent success driving major publishing partnerships.
Broadbent’s writing style is distinguished by its refusal to sanitize the harsh realities of war, oppression, and physical trauma. Influenced by the lyrical prose and nuanced exploration of femininity found in the works of Madeline Miller, her narratives focus on the psychological toll of conflict and the structural pressures placed upon women in patriarchal or authoritarian societies. Rather than relying on simple tropes, her work emphasizes complex emotional realism, where characters must grapple with moral compromises, trauma, and the heavy burden of survival in hostile environments.
Thematically, her stories delve into the psychological motivations behind both human and non-human behavior, examining why individuals seek authority and how legacy dictates personal agency. A recurring concept throughout her work is that love can be a dangerous vulnerability in worlds designed for cruelty and state-sanctioned violence. While her novels incorporate a substantial romantic thread, critics and readers frequently observe that her epic fantasy plots—complete with intricate magic systems and grim geopolitical maneuvering—are robust enough to carry the narrative independently of the romantic relationships.
Her character design consistently features resilient, complex female leads forced to navigate oppressive power structures. These protagonists are rarely unblemished heroes; instead, they are pragmatic survivors who use strategy, combat skills, and political cunning to protect their communities and claim their personal autonomy. By pairing intricate magical mechanics with intense character dynamics, Broadbent creates stories where emotional stakes and mortal danger remain inextricably linked.
Crowns of Nyaxia
