
by JeffreyNix
It's hard to flirt when the apocalypse keeps rolling out new expansions. Shiloh just wants to save enough money to make a safe place for her people, while Wade can only sleep if he knows he's saving the most lives per minute spent. But when money and safety are both on the line, they will end up needing to find out what exactly it is about the other one that doesn't add up. Unfortunately, given the world they survive in, it can be hard to tell the difference between secrets and SECRETS. Every few decades, a new aspect of magic is released onto Earth in a staggered stop-and-go apocalypse. You never know when you'll wake up with memories of your counterpart in another world (the one forcibly overwriting itself onto Earth to avoid their End of Days), new magical abilities, new monsters to plan your civic infrastructure around, or the kind of secret that forces you to relocate under a false identity [cough cough]. What to Expect: -A VERY slow burn romance -Non-toxic romance. Characters taking breaks from extravagant magical violence to discuss boundaries, unhealthy dynamics of power & control, and argue the ethics of culling trolls in a complex monster ecosystem. -A slow burn power/team progression. -Character-driven with lots of dialogue and communication that resolves easily avoidable conflicts. -Jokes. A lot of them. And many of those are dick jokes because I can't imagine taking a real-life romance that seriously either. -Found family, -All explicit content will be exclusively released to Patreon. This is the first book in a series of ongoing birthday gifts for my partner. All together it will form The Passions of the Middle End Series, which blends some of her favorite romantasy books like K. F. Breene's Demigods of San Fransisco and Suzanne Wright's books plus some of my own favorites (AKA almost everything written by Ilona Andrews and Alexander Wales.) It marries my love of overthinking magic and all the pieces of her favorite comfort reads. Really, though, what I'm saying is: be cool. Also, mention really loudly how smart, pretty, well-manicured, and good at spreadsheets I (the author) am in case she ever checks the comments.Cover art by the excellent Tofuyi. They do amazing work.
No streak history
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 28 Oct 2026, 17:08 UTC
Entry forecast updated 28 Oct 2026, 17:08 UTC
Ranking model: rs-public-oracle-state-v1
Forecast model: rs-model-entry-v1
Chart history contains only this ranking model's runs; legacy points are not spliced in.
Rising Stars history is uncertain, so no precise projection is shown.
beats 51% of similar stories
beats 37% of similar stories
beats 22% of similar stories
Mid-pack, room on both levers
Traffic and conversion both sit mid-field for a story this size. Growth here compounds from consistency: steady cadence feeds traffic, and a sharper hook lifts what each view is worth.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 50–149 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views over the recent window.
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