Love Hurts - The Arkane Sciences, #2

Beneath a poisoned sky, survival is measured in breaths.

Zoya Li knows the price of every breath taken. She scavenges the ruins of a dead world, so her underground city can live another day. Above her floats Mashina, a shining paradise of brass and impossible light that is close enough to see yet far enough to feel like a cruel joke.

Something moves in the ash of the Wastes.

The vast and patient creature hunts near the access shafts. It watches, learns and wants inside. When the city elders refuse to believe her, Zoya finds an unlikely ally in Mikhail, a dangerous prophet who promises salvation in the skies and stirs a rebellion with nothing but words and fire in his eyes.

Desire, faith and terror collide as Zoya is chosen to lead a desperate hunt against the beast. But the creature may be the least of her worries. Because paradise demands a price, and Mikhail is certain Zoya was born to pay it.

Liliya is a Senior Apprentice in Mashina, an Arkane Scientist who maintains the very systems that keep her city afloat while the world below rots. She has been taught that the surface is dead, a chemical wasteland where nothing survives.

But when the prophet discovers a way to bridge the two worlds, Zoya and Liliya are thrust together in a desperate race against time.

In a world where hope is lethal and love hurts, two women must decide what they're willing to bleed for.

Love Hurts is a dark, intoxicating fusion of techno-punk grit, forbidden passion and apocalyptic wonder.