Never meet your hero. He’ll only let you down.
When up-and-coming artist, Asher Blakely, is invited to compete for a prestigious art mentorship hosted by his hero, the reclusive celebrity artist Leviathan Marks, he’ll do whatever it takes to win. Because Asher isn’t just any fan. He’s spent hours of pain and thousands of dollars turning Leviathan’s art into tattoos on his skin.
But the more Asher gets to know the mercurial Leviathan, the more he starts to fear that maybe he never should have met his hero, that maybe Leviathan is no hero at all.
Lev Marks collects people like paintings and he’ll stop at nothing to add Asher Blakely to his halls. But after luring Asher to his ancestral castle perched atop a tidal island, Lev starts to have second thoughts.
Because Asher’s art is a mirror showing Lev all the worst parts of himself, and he can’t risk his secrets getting out.
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master painter x art prodigy protégé
hurt / comfort
anxiety and ADHD rep
touch-starved MC
angst
age gap
forced proximity
creepy castle
limerence to insta-love
mutual obsession
spicy -
abuse of power by college teacher *
abusive 24/7 BDSM relationship *
blood phobia
brief mention of cattle slaughter
brief mention of CSA *
broken bones
bullying *
cancer
cptsd
dementia
dubious consent
eating disorder - anorexia
gore (in 1-2 chapters)
homophobic parent / family
loss of loved one/s
nausea / vomiting
murder / attempted murder (contact for more info)
nonconsent *
panic attacks
religious homophobia
religious trauma
self harm - brief mention
sexual assault *
strangulation *
suicide attempt
* = does not occur between love interests
please note: while I took great care in showing enthusiastic consent and safe and sane sexual acts between the love interests, there is potential dubious consent because of power dynamics