The Hollow Dark

The Anchored Duology, Book 1

By: Toni Duarte

Narrated by: Nick Freedson

A queer upper-YA dark fantasy about forbidden magic, fractured loyalties, found family, and the courage it takes to claim your truth in a world that demands your silence.

August is a cynical, unambitious prince with a dark secret: he can see the dead. Haunted by the relentless anchored spirits, he’d give anything to be free of the curse. But it's not the ghosts he fears most, it's the truth that could unravel everything: he’s a wielder—one of the very people he's been raised to hate.

Felix is brilliant, driven, and dangerous—a rare triple-wielder with outlawed magic and a vision for a better world. He's proud of who he is, but in a country where magic users are feared and punished, he knows being discovered means death. He’s spent his life hiding his power behind a mask of charm and control, forced to swallow back the growing resentment.

When August and Felix meet at a festival, their connection is instant, electric—and doomed. As wielders begin to vanish, a desperate search for answers ends in betrayal that twists friendship into enmity. Two years later, they meet again, this time as enemies forced to unite against an apocalyptic threat of their own making.

©2026 Toni Duarte/Tvrdik (P)2026 Toni Duarte/Tvrdik