The Belle Jar (Darkholm #2)

The beasts want to destroy her. The mirror-world won't let her stay. The castle hides too many secrets. And when Marea finds out how to break the curse, is she willing to do whatever it takes to save two creatures of pure evil, to whom she is nothing?

Marea Belle was doomed at birth. In Darkholm, having red hair means only one thing: Witch.
After her parents are executed in a witch hunt, the only thing that saves Marea is the chastity device that proves her purity. Spared the flames, Marea is dumped in a sack at the doors of a cursed castle; a sacrifice to appease the monsters within.

The denizens of the castle want nothing more than to devour Marea's soul. The huge, terrifying beasts take her to an underground experiment room and make her their plaything. Somehow, she survives and escapes the monsters, hiding deep within the castle, where she finds a magic mirror which becomes her sanctuary.

Inside the looking glass, she falls in love with two men. But she can only remain there for a few hours at a time before she has to return to the castle's inevitable horrors. No-one can escape the castle, and no-one can survive the beasts within. When Marea is forced to give herself to the beasts, she risks losing herself forever, but will her sacrifice be enough to break the ancient curse?

This full-length story is grim and a little complicated. This is a dark fairytale that tiptoes on the boundary between horror and romance. It is disturbing, bleak, and certainly not for the faint-hearted.