The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy (Dearly Beloathed)

The stakes are high, the love is forbidden, and the slow burn turns steamy in this swoony, witty, and heart-stoppingly romantic sequel to instant New York Times bestseller The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy.

This stunning hardcover features a cover with foil, beautifully designed endpapers, and a black-and-white interior map!

Osric is a member of the Fyren Order, a guild of assassins who gleefully murder for money. Aurienne is a Haelan, a scholar-healer whose Order’s motto is Harm to none. Clear-cut absolutes separate them: good and bad, right and wrong, light and dark . . .

Until they don’t.

When Osric first bribed Aurienne to heal him, he never imagined those lines would begin to blur. But every healing session draws them closer together. He finds himself developing unwanted feelings for Aurienne as her capable hands heal his body—and his heart.

Aurienne’s perfect life has been flung into chaos in the form of a devastatingly handsome assassin. She should be in her research lab, not illicitly healing a Fyren every full moon—nor wrestling an attraction to him that threatens to slip into something else.

Things go superbly sideways when Osric and Aurienne discover more about the deadly Pox deliberately unleashed through the Tīendoms. The plague may be the work of another Order—an Order far nastier than either of them can handle.

As the lines between Osric and Aurienne continue to blur, the balance between peace and war, and love and hate, trembles, shifts, and hinges on a heartbeat.

Brigitte Knightley’s modus operandi is to write what she wants to read: enemies-to-lovers romances that put the unresolved back in "unresolved sexual tension." Her work is enjoyed by fans of slow burns, tongue-in-cheek rom-coms, and suffering. The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy is her second novel and the sequel to The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy.

"Brigitte Knightley does it again! The undeniable thirst for antagonistic banter is at long last quenched, divinely. A clever, wry delight, as swoon-worthy and charming as it is funny and irreverent. Sign me up for everything Brigitte Knightley writes."—Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six

“Knightly has done the unthinkable and written an exceptional sequel that is so dazzling in its world building, so delightfully irreverent, and so undeniably sexy that readers are certain to love it as much as (or more than!) the first book in the series."—Booklist, starred review

"Brigitte Knightley returns with her epic conclusion to the Aurienne and Osric love story. I have an irresistible urge to reread this again, immediately. Full of beautiful prose, hilarious banter, swoonworthy romance, intriguing mysteries, epic battles, and original magic, Knightley is in a league of her own! For those craving an enemies-to-lovers fix, you will find it all here. This is an explosive duology that makes me believe in magic and all things impossible!"—Danica Nava, USA Today bestselling author of Love is a War Song

"Everything Brigitte Knightley writes is pure gold, and The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy was everything I could have wanted! The tension-filled, perfect slow burn of my dreams, and an incredible conclusion to Aurienne and Osric's story. Knightley's humor is effortless, her storytelling immersive, and I cannot wait to read everything she writes next!"—Naina Kumar, USA Today bestselling author of Flirting with Disaster

"Knightley has done it again, crafted an agonizing romance coupled with a torturous plot that kept me reading far too late into the night. For readers who truly want to be laughing out loud and then sobbing into the pages, this is the book for you. A beautiful piece of writing from an impossibly talented writer."—Hazel McBride, Sunday Times bestselling author of A Fate Forged in Fire

“Combining laugh-out-loud humour and impossibly beautiful prose is a difficult feat to achieve, but Knightley pulls it off perfectly in this incredible follow up to The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy... A cracker of a plot, coupled with the most deliciously slow of slow burns, builds to a crescendo that is at once cathartic, healing, and heart-warming in the most satisfying of ways.”—Keshe Chow, Sunday Times bestselling author of Strange Familiars

"An exquisite conclusion to a brilliant duology—the banter is knife sharp, the romance is a sexy, continuous boil of tension, and the world-building is incredibly immersive."—Elissa Sussman, bestselling author of Funny You Should Ask

“This book gave me that heart-squeezing feeling I always crave from a good romance! Brigitte Knightley's writing is as charming as ever, I could sink into her prose for days. A very satisfying conclusion to this wonderful duology; I hope this is just the first of many romantic adventures I'm whisked off to by Knightley's pitch-perfectly whims

The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley is the swoon-worthy, high-stakes sequel to the bestselling fantasy romance "The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy." Building upon the rich world-building and electric chemistry established in the first installment, Knightley thrusts readers back into the deeply divided world of the Tiendoms. The narrative revolves around the ultimate clash of opposites, centered on two factions that fundamentally despise one another: the Fyren Order, a lethal guild of ruthless assassins who gleefully murder for profit, and the Haelan Order, a society of devoted scholar-healers strictly bound by the oath to do "Harm to none." At the heart of this ideological divide are our protagonists: Osric Mordaunt, a deadly and devastatingly handsome Fyren assassin, and Aurienne Fairhrim, a brilliant, dedicated Haelan healer whose predictable life is about to be thrown into absolute chaos.

The story picks up with the lingering consequences of the pair's initial, illicit bargain. Osric is secretly suffering from a grave, incurable magical illness known as "seith rot," a terrifying affliction that is slowly but surely destroying his magic and threatening his life. Desperate for salvation, he had previously bribed Aurienne with a massive financial donation to her order's research funds in exchange for her highly forbidden healing skills. As the second book unfolds, Aurienne finds her once perfectly ordered existence completely upended. Instead of working safely within the confines of her research lab, she finds herself sneaking out into the night. Having uncovered an ancient stone carving that hints at a potential cure for Osric's affliction, the two must secretly meet every full moon. These clandestine healing rituals require them to travel to specific, strategic locations scattered across the Tiendoms, forcing them into constant, dangerous proximity.

During these intense, moonlit meetings, the absolute boundaries that once separated them—good and bad, light and dark, right and wrong—begin to blur irreversibly. When Osric first sought out the healer, he never imagined that her capable hands would mend not only his failing body but also his heavily guarded heart. Despite their mutual determination to keep their relationship strictly transactional, a slow-burn, forbidden romance inevitably ignites. Both characters grapple fiercely with their intense, unwanted feelings, fully aware that their rival orders would view their union as the ultimate betrayal. The emotional push and pull between the hardened assassin and the compassionate healer forms the captivating emotional core of the novel. Their journey is fraught with stubborn denials, witty banter, profound betrayals, and a deep, simmering sexual longing, as they constantly battle the undeniable truth that they are falling deeply in love with their sworn enemy.

While the exquisite torment of their forbidden romance dominates their personal lives, a much larger and infinitely darker threat looms over the entire realm. A terrifying, highly lethal disease known as the Pox begins spreading rapidly across the Tiendoms, ruthlessly infecting the vulnerable, particularly young children. Aurienne’s Haelan Order is pushed to its absolute limits, working frantically day and night to combat the epidemic and save lives as the death toll continues to rise. However, as Osric and Aurienne share information and investigate the outbreak, they stumble upon a horrifying realization: the devastating spread of the Pox is not a natural biological occurrence. It has been deliberately unleashed upon the populace as part of a massive, sinister political conspiracy. Even worse, the clues they uncover point to the involvement of another mysterious, shadowy Order—one that is far nastier, more ancient, and vastly more dangerous than either the Haelan or the Fyren could possibly handle alone.

Forced to set aside the historical animosity of their respective factions, the healer and the assassin must form a reluctant but formidable alliance to uncover the truth behind the manufactured plague. Their joint investigation pulls them deep into a treacherous web of political corruption, hidden agendas, and dark magic. They realize that the fate of the entire realm hangs delicately in the balance, mirroring the precarious, trembling state of their own hearts. As they race against time to find a permanent cure for Osric’s seith rot and an antidote for the devastating Pox, their forced proximity completely strips away their remaining emotional defenses. Osric and Aurienne are ultimately forced to decide what they are willing to sacrifice—their deeply ingrained loyalties to their orders, their personal safety, or their once-in-a-lifetime love—to save their world from utter ruin.

As a reader who appreciates the unmatched convenience of building a vast digital library, you will find this captivating sequel to be a perfect addition to your collection. Whether you prefer reading on your Kindle or browsing through Google Books for your next great romantic adventure, checking those platforms for free or low-cost ebook promotions is a fantastic way to easily sample this enchanting, action-packed world of magic and forbidden love without taking up any physical shelf space.