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Ruinous Creatures: A Novel - Hardcover

Cole Jackson, Jessi

 
9781668092897: Ruinous Creatures: A Novel
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 1668092891 ISBN 13: 9781668092897
Verlag: Atria Books, 2026

Inhaltsangabe

For fans of One Dark Window and T. Kingfisher, a stand-alone romantasy debut about a woman who accidentally awakens the power to siphon magic from two phoenix skulls, binding her fate to a vengeful stranger and forcing them to navigate the devastating cost of their unbreakable bond.

In a sanctuary of magical creatures hidden deep within a valley, magic is born from the bones of extraordinary creatures. For generations, a privileged few have siphoned this magic by wearing the skulls of these creatures and wielding their power, no matter what the consequences are to the valley itself.

Assistant matcher Adela spends her days meticulously preparing these skulls to be matched, ensuring the magic endures and the valley sustains. But when she discovers two phoenix skulls—creatures she had believed existed only in children’s tales—she can’t resist the pull of their dormant magic. Defying the warnings of her mentor, Bartholomew, Adela accidentally awakens the skulls, unleashing a shockwave of power that throws the valley into chaos and ultimately leads to Bartholomew’s death, leaving Adela to face the consequences of her actions—and the magic she’s unleashed—alone.

Meanwhile, young novitiate Kian prepares for the upcoming matching ceremony, but harbors a secret: he is only participating in order to destroy the magic of the valley and all the skulls it harbors to avenge the death of his parents at the hands of this tradition of power.

As Adela and Kian’s fates intertwine in the matching hut, the connection between them grows deeper and the power of the phoenix skulls grows louder. An impulsive kiss seals their fate—to each other and each to one of the phoenix skull masks. Together, they wield the potential for both ruin and renewal. But as they grapple with the damage they inflict and the choices they must make, their fated connection becomes the key to either the valley’s salvation or its ultimate collapse.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jessi Cole Jackson’s perfect day involves fresh cut flowers, cream-filled pastries, and stories of all sorts. After a dozen years making costumes for professional theatres all over the East Coast, she moved home to rural Michigan, where she now lives with her family. Ruinous Creatures is her debut novel. Visit JessiColeJackson.com for more information.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Chapter One: Adela Chapter One ADELA
I polish the bones, rubbing small swipes of scented oils and soothing ointments into the pale, craggy surfaces of the creatures’ skulls. Their insistent whispered wants echo through my head. I repress a shiver of revulsion.

I remind myself of the honor of my position. Communing with the skulls is a sacred calling. I shouldn’t hate the feeling of their wants flowing through me or be relieved that their voices have grown softer over the years.

Behind me, I hear the cruel scoff of my mentor. “Seventeen years in, and squeamish as ever. The Spinner save us. The day you become matcher will be a bleak one for us all.”

“Especially for you,” I mumble in reply as I rub rosemary and safflower oil along the edge of a long-dead jackalope’s empty eye socket.

After all, Bartholomew isn’t yet an old man, and matchers don’t have the luxury of retirement. We die. If we’re both lucky, I’ll have another thirty years as his assistant before I have to take over being head matcher.

If you could call it luck.

“What was that, girl?”

“Do we have more salted lotus wax?” I make my voice light, glad for the matching hut’s muddled light and the solid silver mask hiding my face.

He grunts and points to the jar at my elbow.

“Ah, of course.” I use it on the broad, angular skull of the gryphon with the chipped beak, then move to another jackalope, my hands and mind finding a rhythm in the work as I polish its twisted antlers. Most jackalopes choose oil imbued with bright cranberries, mint, or lemon verbena. The sharp-beaked gryphon skulls are finicky, preferring first an earthy, autumnal leaf ointment, then vibrating in quick, harsh bursts halfway through my efforts, only settling back into their pleased rumbles when I switch to spicy peppermint or myrrh and repeat the ministrations.

I take down the three gytrash and polish all their canine-like skulls with the musky scent of oakmoss. Gytrash always match in triples. And while any skull can match with any of the three orders, gytrash usually pair only with members of the Huntress order. I wonder if these skulls who assist priestesses with death rites will find their matches during the upcoming ceremony.

On and on I go, trying to sink into the repetition of the work and ignore the scraping murmurs of their voices as well as I can. Not that the skulls speak with actual voices. My best friend, Cecelia, is constantly trying to get me to describe the sensation of communing with the skulls while I polish them. She can hear them too—most keepers can—but they’re faint to her, muffled. She’s fascinated by the depth of my understanding of their wants and wishes. But I have no words to explain; for me it’s as undefinable as any other sense.

I just… hear them. Inside my head, or perhaps some deeper part of me. The skulls tell me, without words, their wants, needs, and secret desires. Some are sharp and buzzing; some are gentle and tinkling.

No matter the volume or nature of their voices, I hate hearing them. I oughtn’t. I am a keeper, from a long line of well-respected keepers—with one notable exception. And as assistant matcher, I am destined for greatness.

And yet.

Wishing I were doing almost anything else, I reach up on tiptoe and hook a jaw with my finger, scootching our only dragon skull off one of the top shelves.

“Take care!” Bartholomew snaps, and I nearly drop the skull. His voice softens when he says, “That was Psecilious. One of my first… charges.”

I dust the tips of Psecilious’s horns with a tiny bit of rare golden mica, and gently file away a bump from an otherwise smooth incisor the size of my thumb. Inside me, the dragon sounds raspy, and so much quieter than he ought to be. I twist with guilt for my relief.

To distract myself from the complexity of my feelings, I blurt, “He must’ve been large for a dragon.”

Bartholomew will welcome the chance to expound upon the noble nature of dragons. He clears his throat. “Dragons once were massive beasts. Large enough to eat a deer in one great gulp. But where they once bred for size and strength, now they make more civilized choices for mates. Females will choose cleverer, more domesticated matches, and over the centuries it has led to a decline.…”

He talks on and on, telling me things I’ve heard a hundred times before. His love for them runs deep—the two he keeps as pets, more wild ones he watches over from afar, even the skulls of dead dragons—all more cherished than his community.

Particularly me.

While he talks, I toil. Grinding herbs and seeds for scents, pressing ingredients for their essence, emulsifying lectin with water and oil for thick, rich lotions. Plus, of course, cleaning all of Bartholomew’s tools.

“It serves them well as a species.”

I chose the wrong strategy. Rather than distracting me, Bartholomew’s high, persistent droning seems to somehow intensify the creatures’ voices until there is a discordant tumult in my head. At least his golden aspen mask muffles him a bit. As keepers, we wear masks whenever we work directly with the skulls of the creatures, to protect us from accidentally matching ourselves.

Keepers serve the orders and care for the living creatures; we do not wield magic.

“No more hungering between hunts or nesting in rocks to raise their young. No, dragons are smart. And loyal. The greatest of all creatures.”

When Bartholomew begins to compare dragons to the other types of creatures, I wonder if he’d notice me stuffing bits of my polishing cloth in my ears. Not that it’d help mute the skulls that echo inside me, but at least then their voices wouldn’t be fighting with his for my attention.

I finish working with the horsey skull of a nearly silent pegasus and turn back to the shelves. I place the last skull on the shelf and press my hands into my lower back. I arch, hearing the popping protests of my stiff bones. With that, I believe I am done.

Finally.

My eyes skim over to the rows of skulls that glow in the suns’ rays through the large windows of the matching hut. Their magic hums with keen anticipation after their polishing, as if they know what’s to come. And perhaps they do. The depth of a dead creature’s sentience has only been speculated about. But I believe most of the skulls anticipate the upcoming matching ceremony with something like glee, as if they desire nothing more than to be paired with the novitiates and used for their unique magics.

I shiver at the very idea of having to wear a dead creature on my face every time I stepped into public for the rest of my life; for its wants—its voice—to constantly be in my mind, in my heart. No magic, no matter how powerful or useful, would be worth that.

The sun dips slightly lower, following its inevitable path across the valley, and hits a small shelf that sits above all the others. It’s so high and small I always thought it was practically useless and, therefore, empty. But something must be up there, based on the sharp glint of sunshine.

I step back and go on my tiptoes to see better. There, pushed so far back that I can make out only the edges of two curved yellow beaks, are skulls. Based on the beaks, they must be gryphons. But why would Bartholomew shove them up there?

I count the other gryphons on the shelves. Six. The exact amount there should be. Have we missed these two in years past? Or are they new? But no. They’re so discolored they...

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Verlag
Atria Books
Erscheinungsdatum
2026
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1668092891
ISBN 13 
9781668092897
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
384
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV
info@simonandschuster.nl

Herculesplein 96
Utrecht
3584 AA
Niederlande