The Dark Lord’s royal guard and the continent’s most famous bard face assassins—and an unexpected attraction—in the second book of this romantasy series.

Cmdr. Gen. Rufus Triever is known throughout Valaria for his dogged bravery and unwavering loyalty to his master, Dark Lord Keith Monfort. What the golden retriever shapeshifter is less known for is his love of music, particularly that of renowned bard Bronwynn Lyriel. And when he’s tasked with shadowing her to discover whether or not she’s secretly an international spy and murderer, his interest goes beyond professional intrigue.

Being best friends with Henrietta Doryn—the new Dark Lady of Nilheim—has its perks, not the least of which is the boost it’s given Bronwynn’s career. Her summer schedule is now full of performances for royals from far and wide. But her newfound spotlight has also threatened to reveal things Brownie would rather keep hidden . . . secrets that could land her in a whole heap of trouble, especially with her tenacious part-canine companion.

As Brownie and Rufus journey through the Dark Enchanted Forest, they can’t ignore the forces drawing them ever closer to each other. But with deadly assassination attempts around every corner and a slew of unfortunate circumstances connecting Brownie to the crimes, their budding relationship might be cut short before they get a chance to truly test their ability to duet.

Blending heart-pounding action with swoon-worthy romance—and perfect for fans of Legends & Lattes—I Ran Away to Evil 2 is the continuation of a brilliant romantasy series filled with dungeons, dragons, and debutantes.

Mystic Neptune was born and raised on an island surrounded by temperate rainforests, lakes, mountains, and endless ocean. She started writing books when she was twelve, and by the age of fourteen she’d written her first novel. It was about an elven space princess whose evil stepmother messed up her trans-dimensional portal trip to university and sent her to a war-torn restricted universe instead. It was very cheesy, and the ultimately-nine-book series was lost forever on the family PC (Windows 95, anyone?) that died a very final death the summer she was sixteen. By then, Mystic was living with her very sick single mother and her little brother, and working nights to help pay the bills. There was a little time to read during her school breaks, but not for much else—and no money to replace the home computer. So she filled notebooks with the beginnings of stories and eventually got a laptop in college. Around that time, she also met the love of her life, who read just as much as she did, and they got married shortly after a terrible accident befell her . . . One day when Mystic was walking to the mall, an iron fence from a construction site fell on her. She suffered from amnesia so bad that she had to relearn English and re-meet all her friends and family. She even walked past her mother in the street and didn’t recognize her. But it’s OK! She got better!Once she could read again, Mystic got into isekai because she was tired of picking up books only to remember she’d already finished them. Isekai was new at the time, so she didn’t need to worry that her silly memory would come back halfway through a story and spoil the ending. Mystic enjoys reading light novels, webnovels, LitRPG, gamelit, and fantasy. She also loves middle grade and YA books. Her favorite authors/heroes are Patricia C. Wrede, Tamora Pierce, and Diana Wynne Jones.In Mystic’s spare time, she writes and does edit-swap date nights with her husband, Jolly Jupiter. O he of famed dwarven comedy! She also runs after her daughter, Phoebe Vaara. Phoebe is named after Saturn’s moon, and Vaara means Danger in Finnish and Stranger in Greek. Phoebe is a rockstar social diva toddler who hikes mountains and has more friends than both her parents combined, so it fits. Mystic is probably writing right now.

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