Anathema

Name: Anathema (The Eating Woods, #1)
Author: Keri Lake

by Keri Lake

Genre

Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal

Year

2024

Pages

630

Contents

Overview

Anathema follows Maevyth, a young woman marked as cursed in the rigid parish of Costelwick, where faith, superstition, and public punishment govern every life. Found as an infant at the edge of the forbidden Eating Woods, she has grown up ostracized, fiercely devoted to her sister Aleysia, and desperate to avoid being sold into marriage or religious servitude.

Beyond the woods lies Aethyria, a realm of royal assassins, ancient bloodlines, living glyphs, and forbidden sablefyre. There, Zevander Rydainn, a masked Letalisz cursed by black flame, hunts for a way to end the corruption consuming his family. When Maevyth’s hidden power draws him across the boundary between worlds, their fates collide.

The story blends gothic romance, dark fantasy, and political intrigue, centering on bodily autonomy, trauma, sisterhood, faith, inherited violence, and the dangerous question of whether monstrous power can be reclaimed rather than feared.

Plot Summary ⚠️ Spoilers

The story opens years before Maevyth’s birth, when Lady Rydainn and Lord Rydainn surrender their infant son Zevander to Cadavros, a disgraced Magelord wielding sablefyre. Cadavros subjects the child to the Emberforge ritual, after an earlier attempt has already corrupted Zevander’s brother Branimir. Zevander survives the flame, but is marked by black veins, strange eyes, and a Primyrian seal reading that what is taken will never return.

In Costelwick, Maevyth lives under the rule of her cruel step-grandmother Agatha Bronwick after her adoptive father’s death. Marked as the lorn since being found as a baby at Witch Knell with a black rose, Maevyth fears being sent to the Red Veils or forced into marriage. After defying the Red God near the forbidden arch, she is wounded by the woods, hears a voice whisper that God is Death, and mercy-kills a silver-eyed raven. The wound festers unnaturally, Maevyth briefly dies, then revives with a silver-feather scar, a changed eye, and the ability to see the dead. The buried raven is gone, replaced by a black-silver egg that hatches into Raivox, a fierce Corvugon bonded to her.

Costelwick’s oppression tightens. At a Banishing, a condemned man grabs Maevyth, repeats the same deathly phrase, and is dragged into the woods by unseen forces. Agatha sells Maevyth to Mr. Moros, a wealthy mine owner whose household hides abuse, mutilated captives, and strange white stones that can deform flesh. Maevyth discovers the murdered Lyverian servant Danyra in Uncle Felix’s morgue, while Aleysia becomes pregnant by Uncle Riftyn and is branded a Sinner. When soldiers seize Aleysia for Banishing, Maevyth is delivered to Moros, then forced to watch the ritual. She disrupts it, flees with Aleysia into The Eating Woods, and sees a horned shapeshifter devour Moros and kill Riftyn. At a veiled arch, Maevyth crosses into another realm, but Aleysia is trapped behind and taken.

Meanwhile, Zevander has become a feared Letalisz assassin serving King Sagaerin while secretly using forbidden demutomancy to harvest bloodstones. Dolion Gevarys, an ancient disgraced mage, believes seven bloodlines and a septomir can purge Zevander’s sablefyre curse. Zevander hunts privileged magic-hoarders, protects his sister Rykaia from exploitation and drugging, and struggles with memories of Solassion enslavement under General Loyce. Dolion’s visions point to Mortasia, the Umbravale, Cadavros’s return, and a final bloodline tied to the Corvikae.

Zevander first crosses into Mortasia to kill Maevyth for the bloodstone he needs, but his sablefyre refuses to harm her. After she later crosses into Aethyria and is taken to Bonesguard, Zevander rescues her with his scorpion magic and brings her to Eidolon. Dolion confirms she bears Corvikae lineage and an Osflagulle sigil, possibly connected to Morsana, the Goddess of Death. Maevyth is imprisoned for protection and training, furious at being kept from Aleysia, but slowly learns glyph magic from Rykaia, Dolion, Allura, and Zevander. She manifests Aeryz, Propulszir, bone-whip magic, a siphoning glyph capable of drawing Zevander’s power, and later a death touch.

At Eidolon, Maevyth becomes entangled with Zevander’s household. She befriends Rykaia, studies with Allura, clashes with the cook Magdah, sings to Branimir in his spider-filled cellar, and learns Zevander’s curse mirrors the one that transformed his brother. The puzzle book responds to her blood and reveals Corvikae history: Morsana loved Deimos, Magekae created the immortal Solassions through jealousy, Deimos was cast into sablefyre, and the Corvikae were slaughtered and driven toward the Crussurian Trench. Maevyth’s bond with Raivox strengthens when a silent whistle summons him and ravens to defend her.

Political danger rises around King Sagaerin’s court. Prince Dorjan’s life is bound to a plague-triggering soulbinder amulet made by Cadavros, meaning Dorjan’s death could unleash catastrophe. During Princess Calisza’s Becoming, Maevyth and Rykaia attend in disguise. Maevyth recognizes Anatolis, a Foxglove scribe revealed as a mage. Zevander interrogates him and learns Cadavros lives, Moros discovered a septomir vein in Mortasia, Magelord Akmyrios hid the truth, and Rykaia was deliberately baited. Before Anatolis can reveal more, a failsafe kills him. An uprising erupts, and Maevyth is captured by Magestroli for a ritual meant to turn her blood into stone and weaponize sablefyre. Guided by Morsana, she commands the flame, burns her captors, and escapes.

Melantha then intercepts Maevyth, reveals Dolion originally sent Zevander to kill her, and tempts her with a vision of Aleysia. Maevyth agrees to go with her after securing Rykaia’s release. Zevander uncovers the Solassion and Imperial Guard plot, rescues Rykaia, and learns from Dolion that Maevyth is his mate and that they are destined to have a son. He follows Maevyth back through the ward to Mortasia.

In Mortasia, Maevyth finds her old home abandoned, months having passed. Felix, grotesquely transformed, traps and attacks her in the morgue; Maevyth manifests a spine glyph and destroys him. Undead Agatha emerges and releases spiders, but Zevander arrives, burns the swarm and the cottage, and vows to help Maevyth find Aleysia. They shelter with Elowen, the Crone Witch, who reveals she is Nilivir, once allied with the Corvikae, and that she found Maevyth as an infant, left the black rose, and hid Maevyth’s silver eyes with a spell. She explains that Cadavros now hosts Pestilios, God of Disease and Famine, and that Moros emerged from the woods with Aleysia before a spider plague overtook the village.

Maevyth and Zevander’s bond turns openly intimate, though both remain marked by trauma and fear of losing control. Cadavros psychically attacks Zevander through caligorya, offering him power and revealing that Dorjan is bound to Cadavros by blood magic. Maevyth wakes to Zevander trapped in abyssal binding, while Elowen is bitten and transforms into a monster. Maevyth’s new death glyph disintegrates Elowen, and she later pulls Zevander back from Cadavros’s hallucination by drawing his flame through their joined palms. As they regroup in the warded cottage, Maevyth discovers a hidden trapdoor beneath the floor. Inside, she finally finds Aleysia alive.

Characters

Maevyth

The central heroine, found as an infant at Witch Knell and raised as the cursed lorn of Costelwick. Her devotion to Aleysia drives her choices, while her Corvikae blood awakens death-linked glyphs, sablefyre control, rapid healing, ghost sight, and a bond with Raivox.
Zevander Rydainn

A masked Letalisz assassin and lord of Eidolon, cursed by sablefyre since infancy. He first seeks Maevyth as a bloodstone target, then becomes her captor, trainer, protector, and mate while fighting Cadavros’s influence and his own traumatic conditioning.
Aleysia

Maevyth’s beloved sister, whose pregnancy by Uncle Riftyn leads to her condemnation and Banishing. Her disappearance after the woods becomes Maevyth’s overriding motivation until she is found alive beneath Elowen’s cottage.
Rykaia Rydainn

Zevander’s sister, a pain eater recovering from drugging, exploitation, and severe trauma. She becomes Maevyth’s friend, teacher, and accomplice, helping her train, disguise herself, and navigate Aethyria.
Dolion Gevarys

An ancient Elvynira mage with visions who gathers bloodstones to build a septomir that may purge Zevander’s curse. He confirms Maevyth’s Corvikae lineage, urges her protection and training, and often withholds or reveals dangerous truths at pivotal moments.
Cadavros

A disgraced Magelord and demutomancer who initiates the Emberforge ritual that curses Zevander and Branimir. Later revealed as a vessel for Pestilios, he spreads plague through Mortasia, tempts Zevander, and seeks power through blood, belief, and disease.
Pestilios

The God of Disease and Famine hosted by Cadavros. His growing influence fuels the spider-borne plague in Mortasia and threatens to breach the boundary into Aethyria.
Branimir

Zevander’s elder brother, corrupted by an earlier Emberforge ritual and transformed into a horned, spider-breeding creature beneath Eidolon. Maevyth’s singing reveals gentleness beneath his monstrosity, complicating Zevander’s fear of the curse.
Elowen

The Crone Witch of Costelwick, later revealed as a Nilivir exile who once lived with the Corvikae. She found Maevyth as an infant, masked her silver eyes, explains the Mortasian plague, and is killed after being transformed by infection.
Raivox

A black-and-silver Corvugon hatched from the egg that replaces the raven Maevyth buried. He bonds to Maevyth, grows rapidly, answers her silent whistle, and repeatedly protects her from predators.
Mr. Moros

A wealthy mine owner who buys Maevyth as a bride and hides a cellar of mutilated victims and stone-mutated horrors. His white stones connect Mortasia’s resources to wider magical corruption and political schemes.
Agatha Bronwick

Maevyth and Aleysia’s cruel guardian, who sells Maevyth to Moros and condemns Aleysia after her pregnancy is revealed. She later appears as an undead remnant in the Bronwick morgue.
Uncle Felix

The Bronwick mortician whose morgue hides grotesque violations and later becomes a trap for Maevyth. Transformed and predatory, he is destroyed when Maevyth manifests her bone-whip glyph.
Uncle Riftyn

Agatha’s stepson and Aleysia’s secret lover, whose pregnancy scandal leads to Aleysia’s Banishing. He also preys on Maevyth before being killed in the woods by the shapeshifting creature.
Lolla

The Bronwick housekeeper and Maevyth’s practical confidante. Her warnings, care, and past maiming by debt enforcers show the brutality of Costelwick’s social order.
Danyra

A Lyverian servant abused in Moros’s household and later found dead in Felix’s morgue. Her ghostly appearances warn Maevyth and deepen Maevyth’s horror at the violence hidden beneath polite society.
King Sagaerin

The king who employs the Letalisz and conceals political dangers behind court ceremony. His plague-triggering amulet tied to Prince Dorjan makes royal survival central to the larger conflict.
Prince Dorjan

Sagaerin’s son, guarded by Zevander during unrest and ceremony. His life is bound to a soulbinder amulet and later revealed to be linked to Cadavros, making his death potentially catastrophic.
Princess Calisza

The princess whose Becoming gathers nobles, Solassions, Magestroli, and the Letalisz into one volatile event. Her vulnerability matters especially to Rykaia, who attends to keep her from feeling alone.
General Loyce

A Solassion general and Zevander’s former abuser during his captivity. Her presence at court triggers Zevander’s trauma and links Solassion power to the conspiracy around Maevyth and the bloodstones.
Captain Zivant

An Imperial Guard captain involved in investigating missing guards and later conspiring with General Loyce. He helps expose the plot to seize bloodstones and use Rykaia as leverage against Zevander.
Magelord Akmyrios

A high-ranking mage who identifies Corvikae traces and participates in the hidden magical investigation. He is implicated in concealment around Cadavros and left blinded after Maevyth’s sablefyre escape.
Melantha

Akmyrios’s apprentice and an aura-reading mage who probes Zevander and later reveals herself as Rykaia’s attacker. She lures Maevyth toward Mortasia by promising access to Aleysia.
Kazhimyr

One of the Letalisz, skilled with ice-blood magic and stealth. He helps Zevander retrieve Dolion from Corvus Keep and later supports covert operations at court.
Ravezio

A Letalisz ally with venomous basilisk blood who assists Zevander’s missions and court disguises. He also helps investigate Rykaia’s attacker and carries Rykaia away during the ambrozhyr incident.
Torryn

A Letalisz defender and vivicantem absorber assigned to help train Maevyth. He also investigates the flammellian murderer and protects Maevyth and Rykaia during the Becoming chaos.
Allura

A bone scribe from the Citadel and Dolion’s ally. She interprets Maevyth’s ancient bones, teaches mind projection, deciphers Corvikae myth, and helps reveal the significance of Raivox and the puzzle book.
Magdah

Eidolon’s horned cook, initially hostile to Maevyth but gradually part of the household rhythm around her. Her kitchen scenes ground Maevyth’s adjustment to life at Eidolon.
Vendryck

A loyal servant at Eidolon who assists Zevander with practical orders, including Rykaia’s confinement and castle logistics. His presence reinforces Eidolon as a functioning but secretive household.
Gavroche

A spindling boy rescued by Zevander from a Rapax abductor. Zevander later recruits him as an informant in The Hovel and the brothels tied to forbidden potion murders.
Madame Lazarine

The brothel madam also called Ze’Kyra, who houses Rykaia and later shelters Gavroche at Zevander’s command. She represents the dangerous underworld around The Hovel.
Anatolis

A Foxglove scribe revealed as a mage and former Mortasian agent. Under Zevander’s interrogation, he exposes Cadavros’s survival, Moros’s septomir vein discovery, and the setup targeting Rykaia before a kill spell destroys him.
Sacton Crain

A senior religious authority in Costelwick who conducts Banishing rites and embodies the parish’s violent doctrine. His public condemnations help turn Maevyth and Aleysia into targets.
Governor Grimsby

The civil ruler overseeing Costelwick’s punishments, taxes, and Banishings. His authority reinforces the parish system that traps Maevyth and enables mob violence.
Shireen

Moros’s housekeeper, who chillingly offers to dispose of Danyra after Maevyth discovers the servant’s abuse. She later summons Maevyth to witness Aleysia’s Banishing.
Morsana

The Goddess of Death connected to the Corvikae, ravens, black roses, and Maevyth’s awakening power. She appears through visions and inner guidance, urging Maevyth to command sablefyre.
Deimos

A mortal warrior from Corvikae myth who loved Morsana and was cast into sablefyre through Magekae’s jealousy. His story reframes sablefyre, divine punishment, and Maevyth’s lineage.
Magekae

The jealous god in the Corvikae myth who empowers enemies into immortal Solassions and engineers Deimos’s fall. His actions form the ancient root of the conflicts resurfacing around Maevyth.
Lady Rydainn

Zevander’s mother, forced to watch the Emberforge ritual that curses her infant son. Her later suffering and death haunt Rykaia and Zevander’s family history.
Lord Rydainn

Zevander’s father, complicit in the desperate bargain with Cadavros that destroys his sons. His actions begin the Rydainn family’s ruin.
Captain Avith

The Solassion captain chosen for Princess Calisza during her Becoming. His role places Solassion interests at the center of the royal ceremony.
King Jeret

A Solassion king present during the uprising at Sagaerin’s court. He probes Zevander’s disguise and represents Solassion political pressure.
The Banished Man

A condemned Costelwick prisoner who grabs Maevyth, bears an old-gods mark, and repeats that God is Death before being dragged into the woods. His death and later apparitions help awaken Maevyth’s connection to the dead.

Themes

Keri Lake’s Anathema is built around characters marked—physically, socially, and spiritually—by forces that claim ownership over them. Its central drama is not simply escape from monsters, but the struggle to define the self when gods, kings, churches, families, and curses all insist on naming you first.

Power as corruption, survival, and inheritance. Sablefyre begins as a curse in the prologue, branded into Zevander by Cadavros’s ritual, and it continues to threaten madness through Branimir’s transformation and Zevander’s fear of becoming like him. Yet the same black fire saves the vulnerable: Zevander rescues Gavroche, destroys Maevyth’s attackers, and later Maevyth learns to command sablefyre rather than be consumed by it. Magic in the novel is dangerous because it reflects will, trauma, and desire; it can enslave, but it can also become a language of resistance.
Oppressive belief systems and the violence of social control. Mortasia’s Red God faith, Banishing rituals, witch accusations, and arranged marriages reveal a society that sanctifies cruelty. Maevyth is treated as “the lorn,” Aleysia is condemned for pregnancy, and Lyverian women such as Danyra are dehumanized. Aethyria mirrors this corruption through kings, magehood politics, bloodstones, and the exploitation of vivicantem. Across realms, institutions preserve power by turning vulnerable bodies into sacrifices.
Death as boundary and birthplace. The repeated phrase “God is Death” evolves from omen to revelation. Maevyth’s mercy-killing of the raven leads to Raivox’s egg; her temporary death awakens silver-sighted powers; the Corvikae history declares, “From death, we rose.” Death is not an ending in the novel but a threshold—between realms, languages, bloodlines, and identities. Maevyth’s connection to Morsana makes her both haunted and chosen.
Trauma, tenderness, and chosen kinship. Zevander and Maevyth are both survivors of bodily violation and coercion, and their romance matters because it is rooted in restraint as much as desire. His refusal to fully claim her when afraid of harming her contrasts with Cadavros, Moros, and Felix, who consume and possess. The healing circle widens through Rykaia’s friendship, Dolion’s mentorship, Maevyth’s compassion for Branimir, and her relentless devotion to Aleysia.
Monstrosity and moral ambiguity. The book repeatedly asks who the real monsters are: cursed Branimir, carnivorous Raivox, and sablefyre-scarred Zevander are frightening, but Moros, Agatha, Felix, the Magestroli, and the king commit colder atrocities. Anathema suggests monstrosity lies less in altered bodies than in the choice to dominate, exploit, or abandon others.