Old buildings.
Art history.
Dangerous secrets.
A professor Yelena absolutely should not be thinking about the way she is.
And the unsettling realization that their attraction might have started long before she stepped into his classroom.
Welcome to These Lessons Are Merciless.
I wanted this story to carry everything I love about dark academia romance—gothic atmosphere, history, art, mystery, beautiful things hiding dangerous truths—but place it firmly inside the supernatural world of the Veil of Shadows.
Because Professor Jasper Hawthorne isn’t simply the mysterious professor at the front of Yelena’s classroom.
He remembers her.
She just doesn’t remember him.
That single difference changes everything.
While Yelena is experiencing their connection for what she believes is the first time, Hawthorne carries the weight of a history she has lost.
The result is forbidden attraction layered with grief, devotion, recognition, and the constant question of how long someone can keep loving a person who no longer remembers being loved by them.
Expect:
🖤 Dark academia
🎨 Art history professor romance
🌒 Reincarnated soulmates
🔥 Forbidden attraction
🪽 Angels and supernatural secrets
🗝️ Ancient bloodlines
🖤 Protective, obsessive devotion
🏛️ Gothic atmosphere
These Lessons Are Merciless releases November 1, 2026.
The countdown has officially begun.
Order directly from the author: https://midnightledgerbooks.com/products/these-lessons-are-merciless
OR grab them at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HFQ11SZX
