Venice 1889

Ten years after their last farewell, Adrian Vale arrives in Venice beneath a silver moon and the glow of Carnival lanterns. For five centuries, Adrian and Evelyn Blackthorne have followed the same ritual. Every ten years they reunite in a new city. Every ten years they fall in love again. And every ten years they part before disaster can find them. Venice should be no different. But when Adrian finds Evelyn waiting for him beneath the chandeliers of a masquerade palace, old wounds and older fears rise to the surface. Beneath their familiar banter lies a question neither has dared ask for centuries: how much longer can they keep saying goodbye? As they wander moonlit canals, dance among mortals, and revisit memories spanning five hundred years, the weight of immortality begins to show. The loneliness. The regret. The endless cycle of separation. For the first time, both Adrian and Evelyn allow themselves to admit the truth they have spent generations hiding. They are tired. Tired of leaving. Tired of running. Tired of pretending that love is easier than fear. Set against the haunting beauty of nineteenth-century Venice, Chapter One begins an epic gothic romance that spans centuries, continents, and lifetimes. It is the story of two immortal souls bound by love, haunted by history, and searching for a future they no longer believe they deserve. After five hundred years apart and together, they still find their way back to one another. And for one perfect night in Venice, goodbye can wait.