Enemies by oath. Bound by fate. And falling for each other was never part of the bargain.

A Vow of Starless Gods is a high-heat adult romantasy of fae courts, ancient gods, and the dangerous space between hatred and desire.

Lyra Ashveil has spent three years performing the rites of a dead goddess in a crumbling temple, alone. She is the last of her order. The last person who remembers. And every prayer she sends into the dark goes unanswered — until the night the Veil tears open and the God of Night walks through it.

Caelum, lord of the Noctis Court, is not what she expected. He is not cruel. He is not cold. He is something worse: a being of absolute patience who has been watching her for thirty-seven nights, who has prepared a room in his court three months before she agreed to come, and who wants something that lives inside her chest where her dead goddess left a piece of herself behind.

He needs the divine fragment she carries. She needs the truth about who killed Selene. The bargain seems simple. Nothing about Caelum is simple.

Forced into the star-threaded halls of the Noctis Court, Lyra discovers a world of ancient court politics, impossible architecture, and a god who argues in the margins of his own books. A god whose eight-foot radius of careful distance is shrinking, day by day, in ways neither of them will acknowledge.

But the truth about Selene's death is darker than Lyra prepared for. And when she finally learns who was responsible, the line between enemy and ally will shatter in ways that cannot be easily rebuilt. Unless what they are building instead is something neither of them has a word for yet.

Perfect for readers who love: Rivals who circle each other warily before desire breaks through. Gods with hidden depths and dangerous loyalties. Ancient court politics woven through mythological pantheons. Bargains where both parties get more than they negotiated for. Steamy romance between a mortal woman and an immortal being. Heroines who argue with everyone, including beings that could unmake the world.

A Vow of Starless Gods is Book One of The Mc'Kays Chronicles — a mythic romantasy series by South African co-authors Mxolisi and Rejoyce Makhubela, blending African ancestral myth with fae court fantasy.

Adult content. Intended for readers 18 and over.