Book 1: The Lady Slayers Series

She was mesmerizing. Brilliant. Royal. Murder was in her blood.

Sixteen-year-old Anna Darvulia has just begun working as scullery maid for Countess Elizabeth Bathory, a woman as enigmatic as she is beautiful. When Elizabeth takes a liking to Anna, she is vaulted to chambermaid status and begins to reside in the Countess’s private suite, far from the filthy, drafty servants’ quarters below. For the ambitious Anna, it’s a dream. She receives wages generous enough to provide for her family, and the lonely, calculating Countess—whose cruel husband is often away at war—begins to groom Anna as a friend, confidante, and eventual lover.

No sooner does Elizabeth beguile Anna entirely than Elizabeth’s perfect façade begins to crack. And when others in her employ disappear, Anna begins to fear the person she’s begun to love has crossed over into madness. . .or worse. Then come the murders, and Anna knows it’s only a matter of time before the Countess turns on her as well. After she tries to thwart the Countess’s atrocities, Anna realizes: She isn’t the Countess’s friend or lover—she’s her prisoner. And if she stays any longer, she may well become her perfect foil.