A vermilion Curse- DC Guevara

Former scholar turned mercenary Ryesand Valafar rummages through a ransacked city for banned religious texts, seeking information about ancient and dangerous magic. While investigating an abandoned temple, he encounters a threatening woman with a price on her head high enough to fund his research.

Wanted by both the crown for her involvement in the dead king's occult studies and a menacing cult, Cressida Benoit searches for a way to get rid of a brand that scars her in the besieged capital in order to make her grand escape. An encounter with a demon leaves her in bonds.

When this unlikely pair of opposing personalities discover that they have similar objectives relating to the outlawed religion, they agree to work together to find the place where all dark magic stems from. This proves to be a difficult task when their journey is tracked by a war commander set on bringing them to justice, a family they must escort back to a circus, and the growing tension rising between Ryesand and Cressida, serving as a distraction from their individual goals. In the midst of shifting rulers, villages, disarray, and a scattered court of decadence - falling in love was never in the cards.

Content Warnings for:
Demons
Drug usage
Alcohol consumption
Aphrodisiac usage
Sex Pollen trope in Chapter 18
General fantasy violence
Blood magic
Dark magic rituals near act 3