Hand Upon Heart

Hand Upon Heart

Muriel has spent her life learning how to keep other people alive while her own blood refuses to behave.

A physician in training, she knows wounds, pulse, and the narrow interval between survival and death. But when the Empire's mage intake identifies her with Blood Magic-a restricted discipline capable of interfering with the rhythms of another living body-the future she expected begins to close behind her.

Blood Magic demands blood.

For Muriel, that makes every lesson personal.

Placed under the instruction of Severus, a notorious Blood Mage whose own relationship with the Empire is anything but simple, she begins learning how much can be changed between one heartbeat and the next. He teaches her precision. Restraint. The difference between reaching for control and knowing when to release it.

And somewhere between examination tables, old records, forbidden questions, and the touch of another person's pulse, the distance between them begins to narrow.

What grows between Muriel and Severus is neither simple nor safe. Desire exists beside distrust. Care can become control. Protection can become possession. A hand offered freely may look frighteningly similar to one that refuses to let go.

The deeper Muriel moves into the world of sanctioned magic, the harder it becomes to separate healing from harm-or mercy from the authority to decide what another person must endure.

Some truths have been buried carefully.

Some names have been left unwritten.

And some systems survive because nobody asks what they cost.

Muriel intends to ask.

But the answers may force her to confront something more frightening than Blood Magic itself: what happens when the power to save another person also gives you the power to control them?

When does the hand that saves a life become the hand that owns it?

Hand Upon Heart is a dark fantasy novel of blood magic, gothic atmosphere, slow-burn romance, medical horror, political intrigue, morally complex characters, and intimate questions of consent, sacrifice, power, and control.

Content Note

Hand Upon Heart is intended for mature readers and contains blood, injury, medical themes, violence, emotionally intense situations, and mature romantic content. Some scenes explore difficult questions surrounding power, trust, and personal choice.