I wanted someone reckless. Someone fearless.
A man who'd dive off a cliff after me without hesitation,
even if he had to figure out how to fly on the way down.
A man who'd dive off a cliff after me without hesitation,
even if he had to figure out how to fly on the way down.
Carved in Crimson
Annabelle McCormack
Heirs of Lirien, book one
paperback, 512 pages
Published November 3, 2025
ISBN 9781960883353
Sworn enemies. Bound by blood. Tempted by fate.
In the cursed forests of Lirien, Seren Ragnall lives by blood and blade. As a warrior of the rebel Viori, she’s sworn to kill any Lirien loyalist she encounters. But when a Lirien soldier saves her life—wounding himself in the process—Seren does the she spares him. To keep him from execution, she invokes a forbidden blood oath that binds their fates . . . and their souls.
What Seren doesn’t know is that her captive isn’t just any soldier. Rykr Westhaven is the exiled heir to the Lirien throne—a prince with a price on his head and enemies closing in. If the Viori discover who he truly is, they’ll kill him—and her for protecting him.
Condemned to a brutal trial by combat to earn their freedom, Seren and Rykr must fight side by side—against monsters, rivals, and the heat simmering between them. Their bond was forged in blood, but it sparks something darker, hungrier. What began as duty becomes desire, and every touch threatens to unravel the lies they’ve told to survive.
Because when the truth comes to light, the only thing more dangerous than your sworn enemy . . . is the one you can’t live without.
Carved in Crimson is the first book in the Heirs of Lirien series, romantic fantasies set in a mythical land. Content includes violence, battle scenes and wounds, strong language, and open door, steamy romantic content.
This is a summary post and will contain spoilers because there is a lot going on in this book and this is the only way I will survive it.
After a parade of morally grey mmcs, we have stumbled upon a hero. Prince Calyx, youngest son of King Magnus Warrick of Lirien, took it upon himself to right a wrong, ended up losing control of his fire power, and found himself in need of his father's assistance getting out of a prison cell.
And his father is beyond done with his reckless spawn.
King Magnus seals Calyx's power and banishes him to apprentice under an assumed identity and train to be a fighter.
Two years later, Rykr Westhaven, as he is now known, is thriving far from pressures of court, living and training aside fellow Liriens in a woodland post somewhat near the border between Lirien lands and the Dreadwood, home to their enemy, the savage Viori, and where monsters flourish.
So here's Rykr, living his best life, sparring with Thorne and Dalric, whom are completely ignorant of his true identity, when they are taken by surprise in an ambush. The Viori let out a simple "Prince Calyx?" and Dalric, fool that he is, answers the call. And is met with the bolt from a crossbow to the chest. By the end of the attack, Rykr is unconscious on the forest floor.
About a month prior... Seren, daughter of Brogan Ragnall, former commander of the Lirien king's guard on the run from false accusations of killing the Lirien queen and now living with his family among the Viori, is training her youngest sister, Esme, whom is now of age to join the militia against the oppressive Liriens. The poor dear has no natural drive for battle or survival. It's not going well. And then they, too, are under attack. Seren manages to take one out before she's faced with the utter shock that they know her name. They have a message for her father. And with a swift blow to the head, Seren, too, is left unconscious on the forest floor. Her sister taken captive.
As a side note... The accusations against her father are not the only reason he and her mother, Lucia, fled. There is a myth, a superstition, a deeply held belief, that twins are cursed. One good. One evil. With no way to know which is which, both are put to death at birth. And Lucia's first pregnancy happened to produce just that—twins. Tara and Madoc.
And now we come to present day.
Seren isn't taking no for an answer. She refuses to be left behind while her father and brother embark on a mission to rescue Esme. She follows in secret, tracking her brother until he inevitably escapes her. Only for her to be found by a dreaded vuk that is legendary as being impossible to kill and yet not known for a propensity to attack.
And here our hero steps into it once again.
Rykr intervenes and is left with ghastly injuries that may very well mean his death. Seren is left with a life debt to an enemy soldier and in quite the predicament. To leave a life debt unanswered will leave her cursed. But to take her savior back to the encampment will mean his execution. The Lirien are only welcome to abandon their own in favor of joining the Viori one day a year, and they're weeks away from that. And Seren is so done with failing people.
So, Seren, studious pupil that she is, who is fortunate to remember every word she's ever read, recalls a certain oath that originates from the goddess of love herself. And when their chief, Seth (coincidently her first love who brutally broke her heart) stands against her, Seren claims an unconscious Rykr as her spouse and blood bonds them to their very souls.
Rykr wakes three days later bearing dark hair and meets Seren's eyes, which are now the color of his own. And I really liked this detail. Applause to the author.
The two face off against Seth and the council. Seth insults Seren on a personal level. Gets himself acquainted with her left hook as a result of it and our dear hero accepts his new marriage, not once consented to beforehand, with a...
"Insult her again... and you'll regret it. Bound or not, I protect what's mine."Yeahhh, boi.
Rykr takes her punishment. Twenty lashes. And Seren feels every damned one through their bond.
All is going about as well as it can after that... until a band of Viori haul a cart into the encampment loaded with Dalric's mutilated body. And that's when I knew my heart was most certainly entangled in this story. For that's when Rykr learns that he is all that's left. His father, dead. His brothers, dead. The banished heir is now the rightful king.
It's a heavy scene that truly only a talking bear could properly lift one out from. Again, applause to the author. Loved Thorne.
My heart goes out to Seren. Rykr is an ass. He has a sharp tongue for everyone. The way he goes toe to toe with her sister, Tara. He doesn't back down from her mother. Threatens her father's life to his face mutiple times. He truly humbles himself for no one. And for all the people who knew the truth of Rykr's identity, not a single one wanted to tell Seren the truth.
Oof.
Spoiler dump: Cue Kronk.
It was Madoc, Seren's brother, who incapacitated Rykr in the ambush that spared his life but claimed Dalric. It was her father's plan to spare one heir in his mission to take out the royal family while Esme was being held as collateral by the king's brother, Haldren, who had managed to get himself elected as leader of the Viori in Emberstone, and forced Brogan to help take revenge against Magnus. Long, complicated side story there where Rykr's father had taken Haldren's wife captive and locked her away because she bears the mark of the gods. A mark that could reincarnate a god. A mark that Rykr, too, bears. Although it was concealed by Seren's mother, Lucia, when he was a babe. Lucia recognized the mark when she was tending to his wounds from the twenty lashes he took for Seren. So Brogan did not murder Rykr's mother, but he did mastermind the murders of Rykr's father and brothers.
To further complicate things, the vuk's blood became a part of the blood bond Seren invoked between she and Rykr, endowing Rykr with heightened senses and unmatched healing powers. Which isn't very fair at all. All Seren got was a prophecy of death. Rykr's too powerful. The one sided bond with strengthen him and destroy her. They're forced to endure the trials, alongside Ciaran, Tara, and Amahle. There's a worthwhile attempt to kill Haldren, yet fails, and Rykr's seal on his power is finally broken. He claims his title of King Calix of Lirien before an amphitheater of Viori and proceeds to torch the place. Seth's wife, Darya, emerges as a spy and the puppeteer of her spouse, and attacks Seren who has already by this point, been poisoned, shot by a crossbow, and straddling death's gate. By the end, though, I do hope surviving the dragon's blood poison means she, too, will be immortal.
End of Emperor's New Groove voiceover.
There is action. There is magic. There are monsters lurking everywhere. This has the machinations of an epic story. I truly felt I was experiencing some tandem read of two books because there is that much going on. The author could have drawn out the love story a bit and easily seperated this into a sequel. And I was very much yelling at the author on a number of occasions. No more so than pleading with her to just kill Ciaran already. The man had suffered more than enough! How could you make him knock on the door on the morning of the trials?! I choose to believe that it was Amahle that knocked the first time because the idea that he stood outside that door the whole time... The savagery. And how dare you rob us of Rykr making his oath!
Desperately waiting for book two. Anxious to properly meet Madoc and finally learn who killed the late queen.
4 out of 5 stars. Needed another avenue for transitioning between scenes without knocking someone's lights out and learning what transpired from another party.
Available in ebook | hardcover | paperback
2025/56
Book two: Blood of the Bound
Expected publication: October 2026
The crown of Lirien rests where it never should have—and its true heir has just returned from the grave.
Rykr Westhaven has survived exile, betrayal, and the death of his name. But returning to Lirien as king means facing a court that no longer recognizes him . . . and a wife they refuse to accept. To reclaim his throne, he must confront who he once was—and what he became to survive.
Seren Ragnall awakens in enemy lands, bound by love to the man her people are sworn to destroy. The rebellion that once welcomed her now brands her a traitor, and her new powers may cost her everything. As war brews, one truth:
She is the blade they will use to break him. He is the crown they will use to crush her. And their love may cost them everything they still have left to lose.
