In the Wake of the Ruined - A Novel

By: Kalie Cassidy

Published by Little Brown, 2026-07-07

A powerful Siren must face the monster threatening her home, even if it means risking everything--including the king she's grown to love--in this dark and romantic follow-up to In the Veins of the Drowning.



The realm has a new queen... and a new monster.



Imogen Nel, a powerful Siren, can no longer hide her monstrous abilities. She has claimed her ancestral crown and new grotesque magic, and now the corrupted bond she shares with the ancient deity Eusia is stronger than ever. Though Imogen is determined to sever it, doing so is no easy feat. The threat of war looms. Shifting alliances, a hunger for magic, and her feelings for Theodore, King of Varya, attempt to thwart her at every turn.



Meanwhile, Theodore is battling the strain of his own crown and commitments. When Imogen suddenly appears on his ship, every dutiful resolution he's ever made threatens to snap. As they draw nearer to ending Eusia, lurking dangers and their perilous desire for one another prove nearly insurmountable.



Will the chaos, ruin, and death that Imogen was prophesied to usher into the realm be the end of all things, or the beginning?