Book One of The Nighthollow Crown

A Throne of
Black Thorns

A Dark Fae M/M Romance

T.R. STRACK

"In Nighthollow, want is power. And what these two want from each other could save the kingdom — or consume it in black fire."

Descend into the Hollow ↓

The World of Nighthollow

A kingdom carved from living stone, buried beneath a mountain that breathes

The Hollow

Nighthollow exists beneath a mountain with no name — or rather, a name so old that the mortal tongue has forgotten how to speak it. The kingdom is a vast network of caverns, tunnels, and underground chambers stretching miles in every direction. Bioluminescent moss coats the walls in shifting hues of blue-green and violet. Rivers of liquid starlight — raw magical runoff from the Thornwood — carve through obsidian channels. The air tastes of ozone, stone, and something older than memory.

The Obsidian Palace

Rising from the heart of the Hollow like a black crown, the palace is carved from a single impossibly vast column of volcanic glass. Its spires pierce the cavern ceiling. Its halls glow with captive starlight. Every surface reflects the bioluminescence in fractured, shifting patterns — standing inside is like standing inside a dark jewel. The Thornwood Throne sits at its center, in a chamber with no doors, only archways of living bramble that open for those the throne permits to enter.

The Withered Camps

On the edges of Nighthollow, where the bioluminescence thins and the tunnels grow narrow and cold, the Withered make their home. These are the fae who have been stripped of their magic as punishment — branded with the mark of a dead tree and exiled to the margins. They live in makeshift shelters of scavenged stone, fight in underground rings for credits, and serve as invisible labor in the palace above. Their existence is a deliberate cruelty — close enough to see the beauty of Nighthollow, but forever forbidden from touching its magic.

The Thornwood

At the very bottom of Nighthollow, where the caverns descend into true darkness, grows the Thornwood — a sentient forest of black-thorned trees that bloom with poisonous flowers. No one has entered its heart and survived in over a thousand years. The trees move. The roots think. The flowers watch. The Thornwood is the source of all fae magic in Nighthollow, and the Thornwood Throne is merely its extension — a tendril of the forest's consciousness, reaching up into the world of the court to choose who will speak with its voice.

The Underground Rings

In the Withered camps, the closest thing to currency is violence. The underground fighting rings are brutal, bare-knuckle affairs held in natural amphitheaters carved by ancient water. Crowds of Withered and, occasionally, slumming courtiers gather to watch fighters tear each other apart for credits — thin discs of obsidian that can be traded for food, medicine, or information. The rings are where Rail learned to survive, and where his sealed magic first began to crack.

The Deep Caverns

Below the palace, below even the Withered camps, lie the deep caverns — vast, echoing spaces where the stone is warm to the touch and the bioluminescence burns brighter, wilder, in colors that don't have names in the common tongue. These caverns are used for private training, secret meetings, and the kind of encounters that can't survive the scrutiny of the court above. It is here, in the belly of the mountain, that Soren teaches Rail to control his black fire — and where they first give in to the gravity between them.

The Players

The lives that orbit the Thornwood Throne

Soren Vael

The Thorn King of Nighthollow
The Hollow King
Appearance
Pale silver-white hair falling past his shoulders. Sharp cheekbones and frozen amber eyes. Lean and angular — all edges, no softness. His body is traced with silver thorn-scars that glow when he uses magic, spreading from his chest down his arms like living vines. When the throne feeds, the scars advance. When Rail is near, they retreat.
Age
Appears late twenties. Actually approximately three hundred years old. Old enough to remember when the previous king still had his sanity. Young enough, by fae standards, that the throne should not be killing him this quickly.
Nature
Ice given form. Soren rules through precision and fear, showing no emotion in public, calculating every word like a chess move. In private, he is exhausted, lonely, and terrified of losing control — not of his court, but of the slow, quiet dying that the throne demands as payment for power. He has not been touched with gentleness in over a century.
Secret
The Thornwood Throne is rejecting him. His scars are spreading faster than he can replenish the magic the throne devours. He has months to live — unless he can find a Consort whose desire for him is genuine enough to share the burden. He hasn't wanted anyone in centuries. Until Rail.
"You are not what I expected." — to Rail, the first night

Rail

The Withered / The Black Fire
Black Fire
Appearance
Dark brown skin, black hair shorn close on the sides and wild on top. Deep green eyes with gold flecks that glow when he's angry — which is often. Broad-shouldered, scarred-handed, a fighter's body built in the underground rings. A brand on his back in the shape of a dead tree: the mark of the Withered. It is not what it seems.
Age
Appears mid-twenties. Actually approximately two hundred years old, though he doesn't know this. The Withered don't keep records. Time in the camps is measured in fights survived, not years passed.
Nature
Feral, defiant, wickedly funny even with a blade at his throat. Rail was raised in the camps and has never known luxury, only survival. He fights dirty, speaks bluntly, and kneels for no one. His loyalty, once earned, is absolute — and earning it requires more than power. It requires honesty.
Secret
The brand on his back isn't just a mark — it's a seal, placed on him as an infant to lock away a power that hasn't been seen in a thousand years. Black fire: the magic of the First Thorn King. Rail's blood carries a claim to the Thornwood Throne that could save Soren — or kill him.
"You want me to kneel? Make me." — to Soren, before everything changed

Cassius Dorne

The Thorn of Secrets
Spymaster
Appearance
Beautiful in a knife-edge way — dark auburn hair, pale grey eyes, a mouth that always looks like it's about to say something cruel. Tall, lean, impeccably dressed. Every movement is calculated to project elegance and control. He looks like the kind of man who has never been surprised by anything — and that is almost true.
Nature
Soren's oldest friend and most dangerous advisor. Cassius runs the intelligence network that keeps Nighthollow's enemies at bay and its courtiers in line. He is brilliant, ruthless, and capable of extraordinary tenderness — but only for one person. A person who will never want him back.
"I have loved you for three hundred years, and you have never once looked at me the way you look at him." — to Soren, in the dark

Moth

The Information Broker
The Network
Appearance
Tiny, sharp-featured, and covered in iridescent moth-wing tattoos that seem to shift and flutter in certain light. Genderfluid, using whatever pronouns suit the day. Their smile is the last thing several unfortunate people have seen before discovering their secrets were no longer their own.
Nature
Rail's closest friend and surrogate family. Moth runs the underground information network in the Withered camps — nothing moves in Nighthollow without Moth knowing about it. They will betray anyone for the right price. Except Rail. For Rail, the price is always free.
"Information is the only currency that appreciates in value the more you spend it."

The Magic of Want

In Nighthollow, desire is the most dangerous force in existence

The First Law: Want Is Power

🔥

Desire Fuels Magic

All fae magic in Nighthollow is fueled by want — the raw, desperate, consuming force of desire. The more intensely a fae wants something, the more powerful their magic becomes. This makes desire itself dangerous: a fae who wants nothing is powerless, but a fae who wants too much risks being consumed by their own power.

❄

Suppression Weakens

Suppressing desire — denying what you want — actively weakens a fae's magic. This is why the Withered are stripped: the branding ritual doesn't remove their magic, it seals their capacity to want. Without desire, they wither. It is a cruelty designed to look like mercy.

⚡

Surrender Amplifies

Surrendering fully to desire — allowing yourself to want without restraint — can make a fae unstoppable. It can also destroy them. The line between power and annihilation is the line between wanting something and being consumed by the wanting. This is why love between fae is so dangerous: it is the most powerful desire, and therefore the most powerful magic.

Manifestations

✦

Silver Light — Soren's Magic

Soren's magic manifests as silver light and frost — precise, controlled, sharp. It reflects his nature: contained, deliberate, and cutting. When the throne's thorns consume his magic, the silver dims. When Rail is near and Soren's desire surfaces, the silver blazes bright enough to illuminate caverns.

✷

Black Fire — Rail's Magic

Rail's magic is black fire — a power not seen since the First Thorn King, a thousand years ago. It doesn't just burn; it devours. It consumes magic itself, unmaking enchantments and wards on contact. When Rail's emotions surge, the fire erupts unbidden. It is terrifying, beautiful, and older than the court itself.

❦

The Binding of Briars

The most powerful and dangerous ritual in Nighthollow. The Binding bonds two fae through the Thornwood Throne, merging their magic and their desire into a single force. It requires genuine, overwhelming want from both participants — the magic will reject a false bond. The Consort shares the king's power and his pain. The thorns pierce both their hearts. If the bond breaks, both die.

The Court of Nighthollow

A hierarchy carved in thorns and held together by fear

The Thorn King
Absolute ruler of Nighthollow, chosen by the Thornwood Throne itself. The throne pierces the king's heart and bonds with his blood. If the throne rejects you, you die. If it accepts you, it feeds on your magic for the rest of your life. Currently held by Soren Vael.
The King's Consort
Not a spouse but a magical and political role. The Consort is bonded to the king through the Binding of Briars, sharing his power and his pain. The position requires genuine desire — it cannot be arranged politically. The throne has been without a Consort for five years. Position vacant.
The Five Thorns
The king's inner circle, each commanding a branch of court power. The Thorn of War (Vex) commands the military. The Thorn of Secrets (Cassius Dorne) runs intelligence. The Thorn of Coin (Seraphine) controls treasury and trade. The Thorn of Justice (Aldric) administers law. The Thorn of Magic (Yael) oversees the court's magical infrastructure.
The Courtiers
Noble fae families who hold land, titles, and influence within Nighthollow. They scheme, seduce, and betray with practiced elegance. Court politics in Nighthollow is a blood sport played with smiles.
The Rootborn
Common fae bound to serve the court. They tend the bioluminescent gardens, maintain the obsidian corridors, and keep the machinery of Nighthollow running. They have limited magic and no political voice.
The Withered
Fae who have been stripped of their magic as punishment. Branded with a dead tree and exiled to the camps on Nighthollow's edges. They are the lowest caste — invisible, disposable, and deliberately forgotten. Until Rail.

Map of the Hollow

The kingdom beneath the mountain

THE UNNAMED MOUNTAIN
THE OBSIDIAN PALACE
Throne Room
Deep Caverns
Starlight Rivers
Bio. Gardens
Withered Camps
Fighting Rings
THE THORNWOOD
Here be thorns. Here be death.
Surface
Deep

Nighthollow is not drawn on maps. It is felt in the bones of the mountain.

Glossary

The language of thorns

The Binding of Briars
The ritual that bonds a Consort to the Thorn King. Requires genuine mutual desire. The thorns pierce both hearts simultaneously, merging their magic and their fates.
Black Fire
An ancient and terrifying manifestation of fae magic, last seen a thousand years ago. Devours other magic on contact. Associated with the bloodline of the First Thorn King.
The Branding
The ritual that creates the Withered. A dead tree is burned into the fae's back, sealing their capacity to desire and thus their magic. It is considered a mercy. It is not.
Credits
Thin discs of obsidian used as currency in the Withered camps. Earned primarily through fighting in the rings.
The Dual Coronation
A legendary ritual in which two fae share the Thornwood Throne as equal rulers. It has not been successfully performed in a thousand years. It requires desire stronger than the desire for power itself.
The Five Thorns
The king's inner council: War, Secrets, Coin, Justice, and Magic. Each commands a branch of Nighthollow's governance. Together, they can invoke the Right of Challenge to depose a king.
Gold Blood
Fae blood is gold. The richer the gold, the more powerful the fae. Withered blood runs pale, almost clear. Rail's blood burns black at the edges.
The Right of Challenge
If three or more Thorns agree, they may challenge the king's right to rule. This opens the throne to any claimant willing to survive its thorns.
The Rootborn
Common fae who serve the court. Named for the Thornwood's roots, which they tend. They possess limited magic.
Starlight
Raw magical runoff from the Thornwood that flows through Nighthollow's channels. Liquid, luminous, and mildly intoxicating if consumed. The court's primary source of ambient light.
The Thornwood
The sentient forest at the bottom of Nighthollow. Source of all fae magic. Its trees are black, its thorns are alive, and its flowers are poison. No one has entered its heart and returned in living memory.
The Withered
Fae stripped of their magic and branded with a dead tree. The lowest caste in Nighthollow. They live in camps at the kingdom's edges and are considered less than Rootborn. They are not.

The Book

A Throne of Black Thorns - Cover Art

The Thorn King is dying. The man who could save him wants to burn his kingdom down. In Nighthollow, want is power — and what these two want from each other could save the kingdom or consume it in black fire.

Enemies to Lovers Touch-Starved Ice King Defiant Brat Dark Fae Court Magic Fueled by Desire Forced Proximity Who Did This to You Morally Grey M/M Romance Explicit Content He Kneels for No One (Until He Does)

Book One of The Nighthollow Crown Trilogy
by T.R. STRACK

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The Author

T.R. STRACK

T.R. Strack

Dark Fantasy Romance Author

T.R. STRACK writes the kind of books your mother warned you about — dark fantasy romances where the monsters are beautiful, the magic has teeth, and nobody kneels without a fight.

Specializing in M/M romantasy with morally grey heroes, fae courts dripping in intrigue, and love stories that burn as much as they heal, T.R. believes the best romances are the ones that leave marks.

When not writing, T.R. can be found buried in folklore collections, arguing about fictional characters as if they’re real people, and consuming an alarming amount of coffee at hours no reasonable person would consider appropriate.

Reader discretion is advised. Kneeling is optional.