The Seller of Secrets

Inspired by historical Florence, Italy, and based on legends of the Renaissance-era Medici family, The Seller of Secrets is a YA romantasy novel with a sensory and elemental-based magic system.

Seventeen-year-old Bell Asbury, a girl with an extraordinary but volatile gift for fusing magical elixirs, has always been told to stay away from the Night Bazaar during La Festa di San Giovanni, the weeks when the island of Bardia's magic is most potent. The Night Bazaar is the underground network of unauthorized magic users and the domain of the Seller of Secrets, a powerful and elusive secret thief. But when her older sister, Roza, begs Bell to accompany her to the Bazaar, she can't resist.

When Roza and Bell get separated in the crowd, Bell finds herself face to face with a masked man, who she quickly realizes is one of the Seller of Secrets's notorious spies. Although she's hesitant to trust the Spy, he points her toward Roza's fiancé, Garam, in a hushed conversation with one of the Seller's enforcers. The Spy vanishes, but Bell overhears Garam buying illicit ingredients for a brainwashing elixir he seemingly intends to use on Roza.

Alarmed and infuriated, Bell tries to end the engagement, but Roza's fiancé is from a noble house, Bell's father is in debt, and her mother is eager to have a connection to a powerful family. Roza herself is unwilling to break off the relationship, but she begs Bell to create a forbidden permanenza elixir that will permanently protect her from brainwashing magic. Though racked by guilt, Bell is fearful of her volatile gift and refuses.

Instead, Bell seeks out the Seller of Secrets to make a deal to obtain evidence strong enough to incriminate Garam. With the help of the Spy, Rian, she gains an audience with the Seller. But the Seller asks Bell for a startling secret--the name of Roza's biological father. The revelation rocks Bell and triggers a series of events that uncovers long-buried family secrets.

As she tries to untangle the web of lies, she finds herself falling for the infuriatingly handsome Spy. But Bell must decide whether he's capable of honesty or is simply playing a long game to control her gift.