What Is The Historical Context Of A Column Of Fire?

In Chicago's underworld, power is currency and loyalty is bought in blood. Jameson Connelly needs a wife to claim his throne. Catarina Vitale needs an escape from her gilded cage. Their arranged marriage should be simple—a business transaction, nothing more. Except nothing about this is simple. To the world, Catarina is the perfect Italian princess: refined, untouchable, ornamental. The truth is far more dangerous. She's been trained since childhood to wield blades with lethal precision, her family's most lethal weapon hidden behind designer dresses and polite smiles. When Jameson discovers her midnight blade work and weapons collection, all bets are off. He's grumpy, commanding, and impossibly sexy—everything she shouldn't want. She's lethal, sarcastic, and hiding secrets that could shatter his world. The attraction between them is instantaneous and absolutely forbidden. But their marriage has painted targets on both families' backs. Rival factions circle like sharks, and assassination attempts multiply as quickly as the stolen glances between newlyweds. When Jameson's uncle emerges as a threat from within, Cat must decide how far she'll go to protect the man she's sworn to resent. And Jameson must choose between the empire he's always wanted and the woman he never expected to need. In a world where trust is weakness and love is a liability, they'll have to forge something stronger than steel to survive. A gritty slow-burn mafia romance featuring grumpy meets curvy, sharp banter, dangerous secrets, and the kind of tension that burns hotter than any fire.

For a thousand years, the city of Crescent Falls has survived beneath the shadow of an ancient savior. Each century, a man is chosen as an offering to Sariyah—the being said to have once driven demons from the world. When Bastion, the man Ember loves, is taken after daring to refuse her, Ember’s grief turns into defiance, and she vows to bring him home no matter the cost. Her search forces her into an uneasy alliance with Orion St. James, a dangerously charming immortal with a violent past and secrets tied to Sariyah herself. Bound together by a magic neither of them wants nor understands, Ember and Orion are drawn into a hidden war beneath the city—one involving cultists, monsters, and an ancient order known as the Watchers. As Crescent Falls begins to fracture, Ember experiences unsettling visions that hint her bloodline is far more entangled with Sariyah than anyone ever suspected. Strange new powers awaken within her, blurring the line between protector and destroyer, while enemies gather and old loyalties are tested. With the city on the brink of collapse and unseen forces moving in the shadows, Ember must decide how far she is willing to go to save Bastion—and whether becoming something darker is the only way to stop an evil that has ruled unchallenged for centuries. Because some thrones are not inherited. They are taken.

COMPLETED!!!! The past and present are on a collision course, when the fates of two women, born hundreds of years apart, intertwine in a story of magic and the power of love... In the present, Faye Bennet, haunted by dreams of a woman burning at the stake, returns to the village of her childhood, to seek answers and escape an abusive marriage. Unbeknownst to her, her return will awaken the vengeance of an evil, hundreds of years old and she will have to face the truth buried deep in her soul. 230 years earlier, Mathilda, mother, wife and witch, fights to protect her coven and her young daughter from a demonic entity, parading as a warrior of God and in doing so, puts her own life at risk. How far will she go to protect the ones that she loves? Little does either Faye or Mathilda know, but their stories will entwine through the threads of time, sending both of them hurtling towards danger and perhaps a chance to undo an ancient evil, once and for all.

The once-glorious empire is in ruins, its capital buried beneath ash, following a bloody uprising. A competent scavenger who has been hardened by grief, Zara endures in the broken world, plagued by memories of the empire's devastation, particularly the ruthless purge that claimed her family's lives. She discovers a secret amid the rubble: a wounded man named Kael who says he is the final heir to the crumbling empire. Zara reluctantly consents to assist him, viewing his survival as a way to make amends. But Kael isn't interested in bringing back the empire he was born into. Rather, he is dangerously knowledgeable about a weapon that could upset the delicate balance of power in the world. An unforeseen attachment forms between Zara and Kael, complicating their objective as they create an uneasy alliance to traverse the lethal world of bounty hunters, imperial loyalists, and rebels. Zara is compelled to face her own troubled past—including the potential that her long-lost brother is still alive and fighting for one of the factions—as they delve deeper into the empire's hidden secrets. After the rebels kidnap Kael and torture him to find the weapon, Zara must decide whether to risk everything to save him or let him perish. Zara and Kael are pushed to the limit by their increasing love and the burden of their common past as they work against the clock to destroy the weapon and keep it out of the wrong hands. Will the fires of their decisions consume them or will they find salvation in a world of ashes?

She was auctioned like an object, bought like a secret, and caged like a sin. After a brutal betrayal by the people she trusted most, Seraphina Vale is left drowning in debt and despair—until she’s sold at an underground auction to the one man every criminal fears: Lucien Marchesi, the ruthless head of a powerful mafia empire. Cold. Controlled. Deadly. The world assumes she’ll be discarded like the others who came before her. But Seraphina isn't a lamb sent to slaughter. She’s a lioness in velvet chains—calm, calculating, and waiting for her moment. Lucien didn’t expect her fire. She didn’t expect his scars. What begins as a twisted game of control and survival becomes something far more dangerous: emotion. As secrets unravel and obsession burns into something deeper, Seraphina edges dangerously close to what she swore she’d never feel again—trust. Love. Want. But she hasn’t forgotten her mission. Lucien was supposed to be her weapon, not her salvation. And when her revenge explodes into reality, both hearts will shatter under the weight of betrayal. Until he asks the one question that changes everything: “Have you ever loved me?” Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire is a gripping dark mafia romance about love born from power, loyalty forged in fire, and two broken souls who dared to rewrite their fate. Perfect for fans of morally gray heroes, twist-filled emotional sagas, and heroines who take their power back—beautifully, mercilessly, and on their own terms.

After surviving a horrific accident when he was a kid and awakening his magic, Knight Adamson life had changed for the worst. All his life he had been bullied and ostracized, but it doesn't change his goal since he was a kid. And that's to become a soldier. For three years now he’s been working for the Awakaned Human Defense Force and leading Alpha Team—all against the wishes of his family. The job requires his full dedication, so it’s no surprise Knight doesn’t have time for a relationship. An enticing one-night stand with a gorgeous stranger is all it takes to show Knight exactly what he’s been missing. But when a mission to take down a Necromancer Group brings that same stranger back into his world, Knight's life gets more complicated than it already is.... Staff Sergeant Kira Martin was only looking to relieve some stress after her long mission. She didn't knew that the hot guy she picked up from the bar was actually the leader of the Notorious Alpha Team of Awakaned Human Defense Force. When she and her partner get seconded to the Alpha Team to help fight a Necromancer threat she came face to face with the guy who ignited a flame within her. Her desire burn so hot she's having trouble keeping her secrets safe. To the point, it's get harder and harder to do amidst regulations they both tempted to break. Giving into their desires could cost both of their careers. Abiding with the rules will only result in heartache. But when the AHDF main headquarters was attacked, it suddenly brought a choice that either Kira or Knight couldn't break. Duty or Love?