Do not start the clock.
Never get lost beneath the lake.
Odette never imagined her outing as a swan would be thrown off course by a shadowy arrow, shot by one of the four Grim Reapers of Mystica. When she crashes into the ruins of Tressa and comes face to face with Raymundo, he’ll have questions about her missing eye and the Blue Wizard stalking her every move across the land.
Reaper Raymundo never strays far from home very long, not with the weight of being the eldest of seventeen resting on his shoulders. Agreeing to bring the Swan Princess home to her parents is just another day in the life of a Reaper, until he discovers the dark secrets within the kingdom and the feelings only Odette can unearth.
As secrets of the past unravel, the evil hiding within Mystica can only grow. With one Reaper missing and the rest spread throughout the country, Ray will journey with Odette beneath Swan Lake and discover the secrets only the royal bloodline can access. Too many secrets overlap, and discovering what Lord Dima collected in his hidden house of horrors might just explain why the creatures of Mystica turn into monsters.
The clock is ticking, and the Queen is waiting…
- Author: H.N. Defore
- Release Date: March 14, 2025
- Genre: Fantasy, Romance
- My Rating: 4/5
- Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5
Get Beneath Swan Lake
If your shadow daddy isn’t willing to kill someone and hang them for the world to see, it’s time to swap for a new one. Meet Raymundo
Beneath Swan Lake is book 2 in the Deadly Endings series by H.N. DeFore this book takes place right after the events in book 1 Down from the Tower. A dark retelling of the Swan Princess. We meet Odette the Swan Princess with a dark secret and learn more about Raymundo, one of the Four Reapers.
But before we get into Odette and Raymundo we get a glimpse into Rapunzel’s life and secrets from her past. After her parents death and the fall of her kingdom, she is hoping to find answers about her long lost sister who the Mad Queen supposedly tossed away with the help of Zarev, another one of the Four Reapers. The two of them are now off to Camelot in search of answers.
Spoilers Ahead
“I know the dead princess.” Theo said quietly, his eyes remaining on me. “The one Midas traded and the Queen tossed away.”
There’s a slim chance that the baby who was once my sister took a horrible trip around Mystica when she was barely born. Theo, one of the guards who made my life miserable in Tressa, claims he knew her. And more importantly what happened to her.
I could not imagine first finding out you had a sibling, but to find out that they may be dead before they could walk or talk would be heartbreaking. I have two younger siblings who are over a decade younger than me, I couldn’t picture life without them even if we never really grew up together.
MMC who are obsessed with their girl, touch her and you won’t be breathing, or ending someone for them is my jam, if it is also yours let’s be friends and obsessed about Raymundo. From the first time seeing Odette it seemed there was something he wasn’t saying about his feelings for her. Helping her to get back home to her kingdom-her parents.
I don’t listen because, honestly, I have a bit of an issue with watching Dima putting his hands on her. I’ve always had a thing against that, and just because the Swan Princess was a pain in my ass all day doesn’t mean she’s the exception
Ray, barely knew the Swan Princess, definitely knew of her as he was the reaper assigned to Swan Lake. Ray would deal with her parents, the King and Queen of Swan Lake, always hearing rumors about the princess and the rumors spreading about what could be beneath Swan lake (ahh see what I did there lol). He didn’t care who or what she was, he would protect her, or at least not let Dima the blue wizard put his hands on her.
Favorite Scenes
“I like you in the dark,” she snaps. “You stay out of my war business that way.”
“Princess, my business is the dark.” I tighten the hold around her with the shadows. It doesn’t see, to frighten her one bit, and only works to make her glare harder at me. “Don’t jump on me unless you plan on showing me what’s beneath the skirt.” I’m thinking about the scarring, but Odette’s eyes darken at the same time her cheeks flame. I grin, because I wouldn’t mind taking a peel at all of her either.
I wrap another wisp of shadow around one of her legs, keeping her in place. Her hands flatten against my chest, pushing me a little more into the rocks, but a little adjustment has the shadows in place again so my back isn’t screaming. She pouts, dragging her finger across the soft wool of my chest.
Then she ruins it by sending ice through my veins. “I’ve never had someone beneath my skirt who I actually wanted there.”
We start to get a taste of their banter, we get a little insight into Ray and I’m really hoping (as I don’t think it’s talked about) that Odette wasn’t SA. Although she doesn’t remember her time from the Night she got her Cursed or the time under the Lake with Dima, she never mentions anything about SA, but I may have missed it. Learning about the torture Odette went through all because a man- can we even call him that?- wanted to be the King of Swan Lake to learn all the secrets of the kingdom
While he’s distracted I run my fingers over my face, tracing my returned eye.
“You looked beautiful before, too,” Rays says, drawing my attention. “Even with only one eye you were lovely. Having both doesn’t make you prettier or better. You’re just going to draw less attention with way”
Frowning I drop my hands. “So having the eye back isn’t a big deal to you?”
“That’s not what I said. But I thought you were divine before you had both eyes, and I still feel that way now. You’re my Birdie, and I love seeing every bit of you.”
THIS! THIS THIS. I can’t scream this loud enough for the people in the back. The fact that Odette now sees herself as normal or pretty because she now has two eyes like everyone else. But our reaper isn’t like other boys, he sees her beauty shine even without her eye. He never thought she was ugly or that it hindered her in any way
✨Tropes✨
- 🦢Swan Princess Retelling
- 🖤Grim Reaper
- 💛Protective MMC
- 🦢Shadow Play
- 🖤Touch Her and Die
- 💛He falls first
- 🦢Found Family
- 🖤Who hurt you
Deadly Ending Series
- Down from the Tower
- Beneath Swan Lake
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