Cruel Is the Light

Humanity has been at war with demons for a hundred years, and the fighting has been bloody. Selene Alleva, an exorcist trained at the Vatican Academy, and Jules Lacroix, an orphan soldier with no equal on the field, are among the best the human side has.

The two meet with suspicion on both sides and an attraction neither of them wants. Then a run of demon attacks with no precedent forces them to work together. Their solution is a bargain: Jules will pass as Selene's estranged fiancé, which lets them travel to the Vatican side by side and look for answers.

The trip does not go the way either expects. What they learn there shakes Jules's certainty about the world and about who he is, while Selene tries to stop her deepening feelings from interfering with her duty.

This is a romantasy set in a long demon war. It leans on a fake engagement and a forbidden pull between two enemies who have to rely on each other. It is the first book of a duology, so the story is left open at the close.