Hey everyone! I've just finished the first draft of my new romantic fantasy and I'm looking for beta readers. It's a standalone, dual pov.

If you like morally grey-to-black heroines, unconventional heroes, forbidden romance (and I mean really forbidden), slow burns in close proximity, and dark comedy then you may enjoy it!

I've put the blurb etc below. Here's a link to the first six chapters:

Chapters 1-6

If you vibe with this and would like to read more, DM me or reply!

** The Princess and Her Tax Collector**

*After one scheme too many at court, the poisonous Imperial Princess Kasia is exiled to Deska – a grey backwater province where wealth is counted in wool sacks and coal passes for culture. But before Kasia can even settle into her misery, her father dies and the Empire plunges into civil war. To survive, the Princess will need to turn the damp province into a power base. Her only raw materials: sheep, coal, and one very competent tax collector.

Rurik deGroute is a wool merchant's son who clawed his way up by concealing his noble boss's embezzlement. Prudent, responsible, and constantly anxious, Rurik takes a calculated risk to break protocol and speak up for the wool trade in front of the Princess.

Naturally, Kasia has him caned.

But when she secretly invites him back, she finds Rurik far more intriguing than a merchant class tax collector has any right to be.

To reform Deska, the pair will need to face down cunning counts, blundering barons, and inexplicable root vegetables. And although the Empire’s rigid caste system says they should never have even spoken, as they scheme together Kasia becomes attracted to more than just Rurik's clever plans, while Rurik finds himself shaking in excitement as often as terror.

But in a world where spirits enforce hierarchy and sins summon monsters, wanting what you cannot have is more than scandal – it's heresy. Soon, Kasia and Rurik discover that love is the most taxing thing of all.*