Veil of Shadows

Demons delight in trickery. Demons lie. Demons cheat.

County Durham, 1865. Once the pride of Ava’s family, Elemore Colliery now teeters on the brink of financial ruin, and with it, the Tate family name. But Ava is haunted by more than her family’s debts and lack of security. Mourning the loss of her mother following her death five years prior, Ava discovers a dark secret that dismantles her entire world — that her dear Mama’s death was the cause of no mere illness, but the result of a sinister bargain with the wickedest of beings. A demon.

Desperate for answers, Ava turns to spiritualism, hoping to reach her mother’s spirit beyond the veil. But when a séance reveals a chilling presence, she realises she may have summoned something truly dark into her home.

When her father goes into business with a mysterious benefactor in a final attempt to save the mine, Ava is immediately wary. Ares Locke is wealthy, striking, and calculating. As Locke tightens his grip on her family and the village, Ava uncovers his true nature. He is a demon from a dying realm, the Fore, and he’s come for the one thing that might save his kind, but destroy hers. 

To uncover the truth, rescue her father’s coal mine and find her mother’s spirit, Ava strikes a dangerous bargain of her own: marry the demon in return for his help to find her mother’s spirit in the Fore. But in a realm of shadows and secrets, ruled by a tyrannical, wicked demon lord, who has devious schemes of his own, Ava must decide whether to fight the darkness — or embrace it.