DOOR OF BRUISES by SIERRA SIMONE

They are all, for better or worse, doomed to love each other until death do them part.

Twelve years ago, their fates were sealed with a kiss. Auden Guest's heart belongs to Proserpina and St. Sebastian. Even if Saint no longer wants it. Even if Poe has left it behind to follow him.

Delphine's fled back home, and Becket's holy calling is in peril.

And now only Rebecca and Auden remain at Thornchapel to face the unknown.

The door is open. The door that shouldn't exist; the door that people have died to close. Auden doesn't feel like the lord of the manor. He doesn't feel like a king or a wild god. He is a friend and a boyfriend and a brother―and a failure at being all of these things. But the door doesn't care about his guilt. It only cares about the sacrifice he'll make to close it.

As the bruising dark of Samhain approaches, so does the fate of their circle, of Thornchapel and the village and the valley beyond it. And Auden must don the crown, because one thing is still true, even if he must face it alone.

Here at Thornchapel, the kings must go to the door.

Here at Thornchapel, all kings must die.

Delicious tropes:

• Dark academia
• Gothic vibes
• Forbidden love
• Enemies to lovers and friends to lovers
• Secret rituals
• MMF and FF (and then some)
• Found family
• Lush, literary vibes