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THE SCENT OF FORBIDDEN ROSES

thatguyimpulse
42
chs / week
The average realized release rate over the past 30 days is 42 chs / week.
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Synopsis
In gaslit Paris, a perfumer’s magic could save her sister or doom her soul. Élise Dubois creates dangerous perfumes. With a drop of her blood, she steals grief from broken hearts and traps it in bottles sorrows sold as Souvenir de Marriage to wealthy widows. But her power has a cost: scars cover her hands, and her missing sister Clémence is held hostage by Paris’s ruthless Vampire Court. When the Court’s leader, the Vicomte de Sanglac, demands an impossible perfume forged from a queen’s legendary tears Élise must break into Notre Dame’s cursed crypt. There, she’s captured by Dr. Lucien Thorne, a surgeon hunting vampire kind. He knows her perfumes fuel the Court’s cruelty. He also knows pain: he killed his own sister when she became a monster. Lucien offers a brutal bargain: wear an iron cuff that blocks her magic and shocks her when she lies. Pose as his wife at the Vicomte’s masquerade blood ball, where humans are prey. Find the tears. In return, he’ll save Clémence. But in the crypt, Élise discovers a terrible truth. Her blood is poison to vampires. The Vicomte wants to weaponize it and Clémence is his bait. Worse, Lucien betrays her, planning to trade Élise’s life for the Court’s destruction. Now Élise must Unleash a perfume that erases vampire memories, Trust the hunter who left her for dead, Bleed her own life force to destroy the Vicomte, Choose between saving Lucien from turning vampire or letting him die human Her victory leaves her hair white and magic gone. But when a black rose arrives signed "V," Élise knows the Court survives. And with Lucien at her side, she’ll hunt them through the shadows of Paris no matter the cost.
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Chapter 1 - CHAPTER 1: THE MEMORY THIEF

Élise Dubois pressed the dead woman's wedding ring into her palm. Her perfume workshop hummed around her. Copper stills bubbled rosewater on the stove. Shelves held cobalt bottles of scent. A widow in black silk wept at the counter. "He smelled of bergamot and rain," she whispered.

Élise pricked her finger. A drop of blood fell into the glass bottle. The widow's grief swirled into the liquid. Her husband's laugh. His pipe smoke. The sterile smell of the hospital where he died. The perfume turned storm-cloud gray.

"Souvenir de Mariage," Élise named it. Memory of Marriage. The widow clutched the bottle. Her tears stopped. Peace bought with stolen sorrow.

Midnight bells rang. Élise hid her bloodied tool. Another memory taken. Another step toward finding her missing sister Clémence.

The alley behind her shop stank of rotten flowers. She never saw the attacker. A hand clamped over her mouth. A knife pressed her throat.

"The Vicomte sends greetings," a man hissed. "You want Clémence alive. Bring us the Queen's tears from the Notre Dame crypt. You have three nights." He shoved a tiny painting into Élise's hand. It showed Clémence. Terrified. "Fail and we bleed her dry."

The man vanished. Élise leaned against the cold bricks. Shaking. Then boots echoed on the street. A lantern flared.

A man in a surgeon's coat stood before her. His eyes were cold as river ice. "Élise Dubois. I am Dr Lucien Thorne. You are arrested for illegal magic." He held up a bottle. Her Souvenir de Mariage. Taken from the widow's home.

"That's grief relief," Élise protested.

"It's memory theft," Lucien cut in. "And you will help me destroy the monsters who use it." He snapped an iron cuff onto her wrist. Pain shot up her arm. Her magic died.

She spat at his boots. "I would rather hang."

He smiled without warmth. "Your sister would not."