Throne of Secrets
Intrigue deepens as new players enter the game, bringing dark secrets, forbidden attraction, and paranormal machinations. Every ally could be a traitor and every revelation shifts the balance of power. Trust becomes the most dangerous currency of all.
Everything You Need to Know About Throne of Secrets
Gabriel Axton, the Prince of Gluttony, lives for indulgence, fine food, beautiful company, and the thrill of the dragon hunt. Then an ice dragon kills one of his men without warning, and Gabriel needs to know what provoked it. To keep his court distracted while he digs, he announces a competition to find a wife, one contestant from each noble House of Sin. Adriana Saint Lucent, the gossip columnist who has spent years shredding him in print, gets pulled in when her younger sister Eden is chosen as a contestant. Adriana wants dirt on the prince. Gabriel wants answers about the dragons. Neither wants to admit the rivalry between them started somewhere personal, and with the threat of a dragon war growing, they run out of room to avoid it.
Maniscalco captures the banter between Gabriel and Adriana perfectly, they genuinely antagonize each other, and the tension is delicious. The worldbuilding expands beyond the original Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy; you get real texture on what demon courts look like, how they function, what indulgence actually means as a Primal sin. Gabriel is complex, arrogant and self-serving, but not actually a villain. The mystery has real stakes, and the conspiracy affecting the demon court is genuinely threatening. The spice level is high, and the chemistry feels inevitable.
Explicit sexual content. Violence typical of demon court intrigue. Manipulation and deception. Implied past relationships with power imbalances. Alcohol and drug use.
The rivalry between Gabriel and Adriana traces back to a shared past neither has the full picture of at the start, and the reveal reframes years of hostility. The wife competition is a distraction tactic, not a real search, and Eden is never a serious romantic threat. The dragon attacks connect to a threat bigger than Gluttony's territory. Gabriel and Adriana end up together, with explicit scenes along the way. The romance resolves but series-level threads stay open, and plenty of readers found the last act rushed.
Standalone within the Kingdom of the Wicked universe, but best enjoyed if you've read at least the first Kingdom book to understand the world. Try this if you love enemies-to-lovers with actual antagonism and heated arguments before the bedroom scenes. Fans of Gabriel will get more than brief appearances, this is his story.
Book 2 in the Prince of Sin series, after Throne of the Fallen (Envy and Camilla's story). It works as a standalone romance, though the series spins off from the Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy and reads richer if you know that world.
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