Duke University Libraries Novels & Stories

"I told you once, Obi... power is the only truth. Your father taught me that while I bled in his gutters. Now, I’m the one with the power, and you’re the one on your knees." In the cold, ruthless world of the Shadowfang Syndicate, the weak are nothing but collateral. Obi Ashford was born the "runt" of the most powerful mafia dynasty in the country—the Black Eagle. Deaf, sickly, and discarded by his own father, Duke Gideon Ashford, Obi lived as a ghost in a gilded cage, bearing the literal scars of his family's cruelty on his back. But when the empire falls, the ghosts come back to haunt the living. Cassius Okoye has returned. Once a high-born heir himself, he spent ten years as a branded slave in the Ashford household after the Duke razed his family to the ground. Now, he is the Sire of the Syndicate, the man who conquered the Ashfang Dominion in a single night of fire and blood. He came for vengeance. He came to destroy every last Ashford. When Cassius finds Obi trembling in the Hollow Pit, he expects to find a monster's son. Instead, he finds a broken boy who can’t even hear the threats whispered in his ear. Cassius promised to give the Ashford heir hell. He intended to use Obi to break the Duke's legacy, claiming him as a slave, a toy, and a debt to be paid in the bedroom. But as he peels back the layers of Obi’s past, he discovers a horrifying truth: the boy he wants to destroy was never the enemy—he was the first victim.

For five years, Mira poured her obsession into The Reckoning of Caelen Mors—a dark fantasy about a ruthless duke and the woman he becomes dangerously fixated on. At 2:47 AM, exhausted and alone, she died at her laptop. Her final words still glowed on the screen: "Duke Caelen finally showed her his true face. It was nothing like she imagined." She woke as Isadora Vess—the secondary character from her manuscript—in a silk bed, in a monster's house, with servants calling her by a name she'd invented. The problem: Mira remembers writing this world. She knows every dark secret. She knows how the story should end. Except her memories are fractured. The manuscript was never finished. And the characters have evolved without her input, making choices she never wrote, saying things she never scripted. Worse—Duke Caelen knows she's different. He's been waiting for her. Across seventeen timelines, he's seen her arrive at this exact moment. And in three of them, everything burned. Now Isadora must navigate a world she created but no longer controls, surrounded by men who each want to use her—a charming prince offering escape, a dark count offering power, and a villain offering the only thing that might be true: the answer to why she's here, and what happens when an author gets trapped in her own story. Because in every version where Isadora arrives, the empire falls. And Caelen has been waiting a very long time to see which ending she'll choose this time.

On the day we're supposed to fill in our future universities, my childhood friend, Emma Slater, who's smart enough to attend a first-rate university, doesn't hesitate to fill a community university as the university she wants to attend the most. All of our classmates are stunned, to say the least. They quickly tell me to stop Emma from submitting that form. But I just smile at them faintly. "It's fine. I completely respect Emma's wishes." No one knows that I've been reborn. In my previous life, Ezekiel Smith, the low income student who had transferred into our class, claimed that he was a transmigrator who was here to save Emma. If both of them couldn't get into the same university, he'd get eradicated by the system. Emma kept obeying Ezekiel's every command, as though she was under his spell. I didn't have the heart to see her give up on her future, so I exposed Ezekiel's lies on the spot. At the same time, I managed to switch Emma's future university back to Kingswell University and Bellsgrave University right before the due date was up. While Emma did get to study at a prestigious university with me, Ezekiel ended up jumping off a building at the third-rate university. In his suicide note, he kept pointing fingers at me and claiming that I was the reason he failed his conquest, which led to his eradication. Because of that, Emma hated my guts to the point that she pushed me off the campus' rooftop, resulting in my own death. Now that I've gotten reborn again, I just want to watch Emma fall into the abyss.

Duke Patrick is a 38 year old doctor.He is married to a lovely lady named Alicia who later dies mysteriously.He later meets his old highschool friend Amanda and decides to give love a second chance by marrying Her.Later on he is threatened by his step brother to give him the diamonds their father left or his pregnant wife be killed.

"To be the object of someone's obsession is horrible." -Tippi Hidren Christmas Antebellum found her way out to the man who is obsessed on her. She found herself at Florida and start over her life, working as laundry girl at her aunt Lorie's Laundry Shop. There she met Duke Grey, a business man o

Three years since her wedding day Vanessa remains a virgin. When her sickly husband the Duke of Tarrick demands she produce an heir with a man of his choosing she is horrified. To refuse leaves her penniless and alone for when the cruel Duke dies his estate passes elsewhere. Vanessa’s choices are narrowing every day. To submit to his demand would see her honour surrendered to new stablehand Fitz. His sparkling green eyes might match her husbands, but his cocky, arrogant attitude riles her. He sees no value in her titles and riches, seeking only to enjoy lifes opportunities. Including sleeping with a famous Duchess. The added risk of snooping servants and family scandal suggests Vanessa should stick to her obsessive husband's strict rules for their arranged intimacy. Especially when Fitz proves to be much more than his first impression. But what if giving away her honour to such a casual rogue is the spark that makes her world finally explode into life?

Born a high-ranking duke’s successor, Lady Francesca Chandler was sure of her future, not until the appearance of her stepmother, who robs her of father’s attention. In order to gain his favor, she would intentionally involve herself in petty society scandals, garnering the infamous label of being the scandalous lady. But things get more complicated with the sudden death of her father and put her right over the much loved duchy at stake! Vicious Lady Carlotta is taking advantage of young Francesca’s minority to ship her off before she hits legal age where she can decide on her own. In response, young duke’s daughter pulled a boldest unladylike move. She would mind less being called scandalous again if that would mean to save her house and her freedom. Throwing her virtue to a rich, wealthy man of her own taste, with a respectable ancient title, was the only prospect available. A rakehell like the Lord of Syford would definitely do.

Sophie was kicked out on her former university because of the bullying allegations thrown to her. Despite showing evidences that she hasn’t harm anyone and she is not around when the bullying happened, the Directors of the University still not believe her. Sophie tried to enroll to other University to continue her study, but they always rejects her application despite showing them a good grades. And one of the reason on why they didn’t accept her is because they label her as a “Bully”. One day, Sophie choose to give up on finding a a school to continue her study and decided to find a job for her to continue her life, but one miracle call happened. She got a call from a well known International University and got offered a scholarship. This is the story of how Sophie became friends with someone who could change her life forever.

Alice Martins never thought she would be in a tight position to choose between the two princes. One has always been her crush while the other one has been a secret lover of hers that sends her handwritten letters every day. Will Alice, the daughter of the duke be able to pursue her dreams with one of the princes or will life play its tolls on her?

Timothy Holden, is the heir to the Holden empire group, a family conglomerate business. Timothy has a rude personality, he was a womanizer until he meets a girl and have one night stand with her. Jennifer Hudson is a high school student and stays all alone with the feeling of being abandoned by her parents. Jennifer and her best friend, Edward Duke Snowden, the heir of Snowden's enterprise, stays by her side while hiding his true identity. Jennifer gets caught in a love triangle with Timothy Holden who comes to her school, pretending a Math teacher, and her best friend Edward Duke Snowden. The spell of the love triangle between them got broken when Edward was achieving success after taking over the family business and he meets an art gallery curator, Vanessa Frost, and their personalities clashes. What will happen when these four people meet again with the different types of personalities and wrong circumstances? Can romance survive between haves and have-nots? {The book is not edited, might encounter some spelling mistakes and grammatical mistakes.) INSTAGRAM:- elixir_author Gmail:- amritkashyap231999@gmail.com