Emerald Heart Of Thorns: A Dark Fantasy Villain Romance

by Cyran Faringray

Skrain It took a century and a deal with a demon to find her, but my wife doesn’t remember me.

While I watch her from the shadows, I fall for Kerys all over again. She will come home with me—by choice or by force.

Her death taught me that I’m lost without her. My wealth and my influence are meaningless without her. I’m an empty shell of a man without her love, and only she can make my cold heart of thorns bloom.

I’ll stop at nothing to remind her who she belongs to.

My wife will be mine once more, and this time, no power in this realm can separate us. Keryssa When a mysterious, rich client requests my company for a single night of lavish debauchery, he shatters my world like glass, sold to me as a shimmering jewel.

This irresistible stranger wants more than just my body.

Suddenly, I find myself as his prisoner in a foreign land across the sea. He calls me by another name, claims me as his wife.

It’s absurd, but I can’t stop wanting him. I can’t stop seeking the truth behind his charming smile.

Who am I really … and who is Skrain to me?

*Emerald Heart Of Thorns is a standalone dark fantasy villain romance featuring a morally black hero, demons, dark magic, and obsessive love that spans lifetimes. It includes open door spice scenes as well as other mature themes and is only suitable for an adult audience. A full list of TWs can be found on the author's website.*

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Dark Romance, Fantasy Romance

466 pages, Paperback

Published August 18, 2024

About the author

Cyran [ˈsɪ-ræn] Faringray is a queer, chronically ill author of deeply emotional, dark (nec)romantic novels with a touch of horror and morally black villains as love interests. Their character-driven stories feature magic, monsters and everything in between.

Though redemption arcs won’t ever be found in their books, all endings are happy ones.

When they’re not writing, Cyran is usually playing videogames, reading, napping or spending time with their partner and their dog. Their adoration for anything macabre—and erotic—runs deep, and is mirrored in their ever-growing collection of art prints.

Cyran is currently not active on Goodreads and messages will go unread. Please contact them through Instagram (@cyranfaringray) or via email: cyran@cyranfaringray.com

You can find Cyran here:

Website: cyranfaringray.com

Instagram: @cyranfaringray

TikTok: @cyranfaringray

Twitter: @cyranfaringray

Reviews

[Thais • tata.lifepages • · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pitch black standalone fantasy romance, perfect for dark romance fans that also want fantasy! Check out the trigger warnings before reading its quite UNHINGED 😈

We follow a morally black villain that will do anything to get his wife back… even if it means taking her captive. What surprised me was the depths of his dedication, Skrain is completely obsessed & enthralled by Kerys. He has so many swoon-worthy quotes that I was constantly highlighting while reading! 😍 I loved that he has his vine demonic-powers, it suits him so well. Ella/Kerys was a mystery to me at first. Since Skrain knows her past self, we also learn through him her personality traits. what she likes etc. The story is quite spicy so if you like your books 5 peppers hot you gotta grab this!🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

What you can expect:
🖤Villain gets the girl
🖤he literally klLLs for her
🖤forced proximity
🖤dom/sub dynamics
🖤 5/5 spicy 🌶️
🖤 pierced MMC
🖤 amnesia trope
🖤 she’s mine
🖤 he’s a billionaire

“Anyone who dares to harm you will perish. I will rip out their hearts and offer them to you as proof of my loyalty, as evidence of my infinite affection.”

[✩₊*Shelby ⋆ ☾⋆ LiteraryFaery ⁺₊✧ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emerald Heart of Thorns is truly a must-devour kind of book y’all!! It gives dark fantasy meets billionaire romance and I am SO here for it. The premise immediately hooked me, especially as a lover of sta|ker romance. Also I LOVE a brothel beginning (made me think of FBAA) and right away, I was SUPER impressed with this author’s captivating writing style.

This is a new-to-me author and now that I’ve binged and fallen in love with this book, I’m desperate to read more of their work!! Emerald Heart of Thorns is definitely on the spicier end of dark adult romantasy, so I urge you to check the CW before reading!!

What to Expect:
—Standalone
—Captor/Captive
—Villain Gets the Girl
—Touch Her & 💀
—Dual POV Chapters
—🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️.5/5
—Forced Proximity
—Second Chance

Thank you so much to the author for sending me a copy of the book! All thoughts and opinions expressed above are entirely true to my reader experience.

[Maria Elena | pagesofmaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is for the villain lovers!

Wow, what a ride this book was! There were twists and turns in the plot that made it so that there was never a dull moment, peppered with spicy times that were quite kinky.

EMERALD HEART OF THORNS is a standalone dark fantasy romance standalone following Skrain who has finally found his once-dead now reincarnated wife Keryssa after a century since her death and a deal with a dangerous demon. Keryssa doesn’t remember her husband or her previous life, but he’s determined to have her in his life again, whatever it takes. And while Keryssa doesn’t remember Skrain, she does feel an undeniable pull to him.

I enjoyed the story a lot, but what made this read strong were the characters and their undeniable connection. Skrain is a villain through and through, who shows his redeeming qualities only where Keryssa is concerned. Even there, their relationship is complex. Kerys is Skrain’s queen in every aspect of his life, but the roles are reversed in the bedroom and he doesn’t deny that he would keep her even against her desires. The two of them, with their goals and kinks, are a perfect match. I especially had a lot of fun reading the part of the story where the two are working together through a series of missions toward a common goal. It allowed us to see the lengths Skrain and Kerys would go for each other, but also it made us see other interesting characters like the royal family, or Emily, whom we see since the start of the book but truly shines in this part.

Skrain and Kerys’s past is very beautiful, which is why I would have loved to see some of the events from before her death. Even just one chapter, and then flash forward to current events where Skrain has finally found Kerys after her first death. I think it would have made me agonize more over her memory loss and the effects it had on Skrain.

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Thank you to the author for gifting me a copy. Opinions are my own.

[Vicky Vaitsi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well dark romance is definitely not my genre. Not because of the trigger warnings. I love those. But because it lacks plot. The story was very “meh” and there was never a wow factor that I was badly hoping for.

[Finding Sky Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🪵Burn: 🔥🔥🔥
🥵Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
🌈Review: As always I absolutely love the way Cyran writes stories. The characters all felt like they were well rounded and matched the story so well. Their writing always has a poetic feeling to in the way that they describe scenes, whether that be setting the scenery or in the way of expressing emotion between characters.

I loved the two MCs together! Their chemistry was amazing and let’s be honest in true Cyran style the smut was smutting. This has a delicious list of kinks that I happily read and enjoyed. Their story together was perfect and I couldn’t fault the plot. I think the characters and plot all felt like there was the perfect balance of detail and pace set for the story, and the ending was wrapped up nicely too. I loved that they got there happily ever after!

The world is fun to me and I loved the appearance of Nyx and Zal! It made me happy to see them mentioned.

[Cardyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it! It was easy for me to read and kept my interest throughout. I personally didn't think it was that dark, but I can see why others do. I really enjoyed the alternating POV between the two main characters, something I'd like to see more often in books.

[Ve (ve_xo) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emerald Heart of Thorns pulls you into a twisted love story that spans lifetimes, full of obsession, dark magic, and plenty of spice. Skrain is a morally complex hero who’ll make you both root for him and question his choices. His love for Kerys is intense and consuming—he believes she’s his soulmate, even if she doesn’t remember him. 🖤✨

Kerys, on the other hand, is thrown into a world of mystery and danger when she’s kidnapped by Skrain, a man who claims to be her husband. As the story unfolds, her resistance to him weakens, and the chemistry between them is electric. ⚡️🔥 The dual POV really brings out the tension and emotional depth of their connection.

While the romance is addictive, it’s definitely a dark read, with mature themes and open-door spice. It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you’re a fan of morally grey characters and obsessive love, this one hits the mark. The world-building with demons and dark magic adds a great layer of intrigue.

. If you’re into dark fantasy romance, give this one a go—you won’t be able to put it down! Huge thanks to the author for gifting me a copy. All opinions are my own. 💫

[anna]

dnf at 50%

i loved skrain and the idea of the first half of the book up until kerys had her memories back. yes it had its problems but the devotion between the characters was so beautiful. it irked me some that skrain wasn’t acknowledging kerys’s current life as ella as much - she was always “kerys” to him.

goals. 💔

“Anyone who dares to harm you will perish,” he said, too much softness in his words for such a vicious threat. “I will rip out their hearts and offer them to you as proof of my loyalty, as evidence of my infinite affection.”

“Without you, my soul is a barren wasteland, and only you can breathe life into me, make me flower.”

i was disappointed when kerys jumped to conclusions about skrain murdering her. it was appalling how quickly she changed her opinion about him after seeing one memory. it was obvious that it was fabricated somehow.

“After he is dead, I want you as my enforcer. I want to take over every single venture he owns, and I know his Xar’vathi business partners won’t be happy to deal with an Elf. You will be the one to … convince them. When I have acquired all his wealth, in assets as well as coin, gold, and jewels, our trade is complete.”

so after fmc made a deal with the “devil” against mmc i stopped reading as i don’t like when main characters want to deliberately hurt their love interest.

[Nicky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cyran is a master at writing dark swoon worthy fantasy. I have read everything they have written and when I saw that there was a new book coming out, I knew I was going to devour it in one setting. The spice was dark, depraved, and epic and I loved every second of it. Skrain is the plant daddy that none of us knew we needed and is such a wonderful edition to the morally black characters in the universe that Cyran has created. He shows over and over that he will do anything for Kerys and the lengths he went to for his wife just proves that villains do it better. And even though there were times that I was cussing at Kerys, by the end she showed that she was worthy of his devotion. I think my favorite part of any Cyran book though is how they are able to write such dark characters yet make them so vulnerable and so relatable. The inner dialogue of their characters resonates deeply with me and I love that they don't shy away from the taboo and dark thoughts. Cyran's writing is the perfect example of how the macabre can be beautiful and they will always be an autobuy author for me.

[Marya · Rating 5 out of 5]

𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙪𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙢 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙡 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙢 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙩—𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙚.

Skrain has finally found his long lost wife, but she doesn’t remember him. So what is he to do? Stalk and kidnap her, of course! 🤭

Cyran is back! And oh how I missed their words:

“𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙗𝙪𝙮 […] 𝙔𝙚𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙖 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙨. 𝙄 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙. 𝙊𝙝, 𝙄 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 … 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝙗𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙪𝙥𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙡. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙢 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙨.” 🥰

I loved how obsessed Skrain was with Kerys, and how she was the only one who could ever bring him to his knees.

The “twist” that happened midway through caught me by surprise, and I HAD to keep reading to figure out what these two characters were going to do!

I so enjoy this world and stories that Cyran brings us, and I loved our little trip to Xar’vath. Can’t wait to see where they take us next!

What this book is giving:
✅ Dark Villain Romance
✅ MF
✅ Plant Daddy
✅ Soft only for her
✅ These Xar’vathi and their cute-ass tails
✅ Vines 👀
✅ That cameo! 🙌

As with most Dark Romances: Check TW before jumping in!

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐��� / 5
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ / 5

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75⭐️
4🌶️

This book worked exactly as I needed it to! A spicy palette cleanser !
The world building was easy to follow, the writing style was nice, there were some beautiful prose in there.
The only let down here was plot, the stakes were very low, the plot line was predictable and there was no real character development, but equally easy to follow and enjoyable nonetheless
On the front of the cover it describes it as a villain romance, I didn’t really get that vibe from the MMC. Was he morally grey, at a stretch, but there was no real stakes here that made him a villain, I think at most - a little bit grumpy.
I sometimes found the FMC a little Naive, despite being described as incredibly intuitive and intelligent but also understandable considering her circumstances.

Overall, an enjoyable read despite the easy predictability

[Cressthebookdragon · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Oh my wow I absolutely loved Skrain & Kerys! This dark fantasy romance was so good! This could easily be one of my favorite reads of 2024.

“I knew everything about the slender brunette entering the dim brothel room on the opposite side of the street— but my wife didn’t remember me.”

Skrain & Kerys were married several lifetimes ago. When Skrain took his own life after being unable to live without Kerys, who had been murder, a demon struck a deal with him. He would bring Skrain back to life with powers, and he would find Kerys’s soul back. The demon just didn’t say when he’d bring her back so Skrain has lived a very long time trying to find her again.

Tropes:
2nd chance
Forced Proximity
Stalks his wife
Dual POV
Standalone
Touch her & ☠️

[Raye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Cyran and all their books. There is a reason they are an auto-buy author for me. They have a way with the taboo and writing villains I haven't seen before in other authors' writing. This book is also the spiciest of Cyran's I have read. I also think this book would be a great way for someone to dip their toes into the dark and depraved side of dark fantasy/romance. If you are looking for a dark fantasy/romance with a MMC who will burn the world down for his love and do whatever it takes, this book is for you. Skrain in a total simp for Kerys. But don't let that fool you he is still a villain with villain motives (you'll have to read to see what I mean lol).

[Dana Ott · Rating 5 out of 5]

He would burn the world for her then f*ck her on the ashes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️ 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

A dark fantasy billionaire romance with a little bit of $talking. A little bit of kidn*pping and a lot of kinky spice. Piercings 😏, helpful extra appendages, audiences, toys, the list continues and I am here for it all! Always appreciate a strong minded FMC and an MMC not scared of his feelings!

Let this story take you on a dark, kinky, cryptic, adventure.

[Lacie Ortiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Villians need love too

I stumbled upon this book scrolling through Threads. I’m so glad I found it because this book is a good time! 😍😍 Skrain is labeled as the villain, but is he really though?? 👀😂 The spice was spicing & the vibes were immaculate. Highly recommend if you like dark fantasy & want the villain to get the girl. 🖤

[bless · Rating 3 out of 5]

this honestly took me too long. i liked the plot and the story line was really cool but heavens the smut was just — just way too much for me. but honestly getting to know their world was so much fun and i was genuinely on the edge of my seat for the second half of the book !! i definitely recommend if you can gaze around the smut

[Caroline Kuehnert · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 ⭐
3/3 🌶️

Good spicy palette cleanser. I wish it would've gone into more history between the different races and more world building instead of a magic portal that just poofed them where they needed to be, but this is an erotic fantasy, not a fantasy romance. :)

[Savannah Goth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm honestly super impressed with how well written this story is. It's pitch black. Master/sub. Full of death and glory. I've never read a book that fits the spice so well into the story. Very interesting plot as well.

[Evd0 · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @37%

Smut>plot

Which is fine, it has its place 1000% - we listen and we don’t judge!
…But I still need some world building. I need the absurdity to make sense just a wee bit! And I just couldn’t get there with this one.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

super dark, super kinky, super magical.

he is obsessed with his wife. obsessed.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

When they say morally black, they mean morally black. Well written, highly recommend reading the trigger warnings. Easy to read, standalone.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal! I absolutely loved it!
I really enjoyed Skrain, the dark villain and his wife Keryssa. This one was right up there with The Unbeating Heart and The Pale Daughter and the Tyrant Prince.

[Sara Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give 0 stars, I would. This is not romance. It is problematic erotica. With a thinly veiled guise of fantasy.

[DollyMolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like your men obsessed and your love spanning lifetimes, this one is for you!

[Steph]

Too dark and vulgar to me

[Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

WE HAVE FOUND THE LITERARY EQUIVALENT OF GOMEZ ADDAMS. Skrain is such a ✨quivering ball of emotion✨ for his darling wife, his priceless treasure, his filthy whøre (😈) that he quite literally made a deal with a demon & fought 100 years to get her back.

This was basically a fvck fest because the intimacy shared between Skrain & Kerys existed on such a chemical level that it transcended death & lost memories. The kınk? You name it, it was there. This man really said “I will be ANYTHING my wife needs me to be.”

It was a fun time, I loved the tie in this had with Cyran’s larger universe & I loved the dynamic of these characters.

[Kelsey Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely wonderful

Where to even start. I just loved this so much. First of all the way Cyran describes the scenes and what everyone is wearing and what they look like is so incredible. I can always picture exactly what they describe. Secondly the whole underlying plot of this was so beautiful. A love that crosses lifespans is just incredible. At one point Kerys thought Skrain did a really bad thing and I was so torn up because I didn’t think she would ever forgive him. Okay plot aside, the freaking spice in this is off the charts 🌶️. Five alarm fire over here. There’s piercings, there’s vines, there’s plugs, there’s an audience. It’s fantastic and I loved everything about this book. Highly recommend reading it

[Donadello Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Carly (Sad Autumn Girl Version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

“You are my wife, Kerys, and you always will be. You were my wife from the moment I first laid eyes on you, even when you still belonged to another. I love you as you were then, and I love you as you are now. Even if you looked nothing like the woman I knew a century ago, I would love you the same. Come what may, I will love any version of you that will ever be.
“Your past and your future are a part of you, and you are a part of me, as much as the heart pumping my blood or the lungs drawing my breath. Without you, there is no me. If you’re not by my side, my existence is empty, hollow nothingness where my soul should be.”

First published: 21/08/24
Genre: Dark romantasy, spicy
Page count: 388
Series: N/A
Format read: 📱
Others read by this author: Love Like Gilded Bones, The Pale Daughter & the Tyrant Prince, The House of Grief, The Unbeating Heart, Winter Veil at Bloodcrest Manor, Taken by the Evil Slime Lord, Captured by the Cruel Snake Goddess
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Skrain has spent the last century searching for the reborn soul of his wife, Keryssa, & will stop at nothing to help her remember her husband & the life they shared together. Tragic, romantic, action-packed, tense, & utterly filthy, Emerald Heart of Thorns tells the story of their reunion & subsequent battle to stay together. As we’ve come to expect from Cyran, there is plenty of beautiful prose, romantic declarations, kink, & lots of Easter eggs referencing their other books. Skrain has the dirty talking dom thing down, complete with “my wife” & “touch her & die energy”, as well as the handy ability to grow vines from his body. Kerys is brave & able to handle anything that life, then death, then life again throws at her, but my favourite character of all was Emily, Skrain’s head maid & blood witch. Sassy, sarcastic, & smart, Emily really comes into her own as the story progresses, in a way that compliments the couple rather than distracting from their literally death-defying love. Overall, another fantastic offering from Cyran that once again proves that villains do it better.