Paris, 1890. Beneath the velvet glow of the Moulin Rouge and the gaslit alleys of Montmartre, night falls like a curtain. Here, dance is a ritual , art is an enchantment , and love is the most dangerous magic of all. Élise Moreau , a young ballerina with a secret gift, sees the world as shimmering auras of color —joy, desire, and melancholy flicker around people like trails of light. Onstage she blazes; offstage she must hide. Paris judges “different” women. Until the night her gaze meets that of Adrien de Valmont in the audience: no lights surround him—only an ember-dark shadow … and a blade of light that drives back the mist-born creature stalking Élise through the streets. Adrien is a guardian , bound by an ancient pact to protect artists from entities that feed on their dreams. A bond that forbids love . But the pull between him and Élise ignites like a fuse. Around them, the city vibrates: Toulouse-Lautrec paints figures he does not remember summoning; Victor Delacroix , master of the cabaret, warns that music “keeps the dark at bay”; Countess Isabelle de Rochefort bargains with the Shadow to possess Adrien; the bohemian journalist Lucien Artois and the violinist Armand chase ambition that will open perilous doors. When the shadows strike the Moulin—accidents, whispers, disappearances —Élise discovers her dance can split the colors of the creatures and become a weapon of light . Yet every step closer to Adrien fractures the guardian’s fragile balance. Love or survival? In a Paris of velvet and ash, one choice could set the whole city on fire. A historical romantasy infused with forbidden passion , dark atmosphere , and sensory magic , set against a seductively melancholic fin-de-siècle Paris. Inside you’ll find: Fin-de-siècle Paris — glittering boulevards, cabarets, ateliers, and the shadowed lanes of Montmartre. - Forbidden love — a cursed guardian and a ballerina of light. - Original magic — emotions as color ; dance as ritual and shield . - Dark romance & slow-burn tension — kisses that send waves of light and night, impossible choices. - Intrigue & art — the Moulin’s pact, a venomous countess, an ambitious journalist, a dangerous violinist. - Cinematic action — assaults mid-performance, fans and sequins as weapons, Paris besieged by shadows. - Themes — identity and otherness, desire and sacrifice, the price of creativity. Perfect for readers who love historical romantasy, gaslamp fantasy , gothic Paris, secret societies beneath stages, resilient heroines , tormented guardians , and destiny-shattering choices . Content notes: dark atmosphere, closed-door sensuality, non-graphic violence, mature themes (obsession, sacrifice, grief). Recommended for readers 16+ . Why you’ll love it Magnetic setting : Paris as you’ve never felt it—romantic, perilous, enchanted . - Sensory magic : emotion in living color; dance that can save or destroy. - A love that burns : the spark between light and shadow ignites every chapter. Buy now and step behind the red curtain of the Moulin Rouge, where the night smells of absinthe and the heart dances on the edge of darkness.