London will burn with beauty-if they let it.
May 1798. The Prince Regent’s bridges are being built with a secret: hidden within their keystones lie ornamental vases filled not with flowers, but gunpowder. On coronation day, they will bloom fire-and drag the heart of London into the Thames.
Only three outlaws stand in the way:
Ros Merle, exiled engineer and daughter of a disgraced earl, whose past is signed in scarlet ink.
Rowan Bell, once known as Blackthorn, a swordsman with a mind for mathematics and a price on his head.
Eliza Merle, their red-haired apprentice, too clever to be a girl, too fierce to be ignored.
Armed with forged papers, blackthorn blossoms, and a press that prints truth like bullets, they must infiltrate the Royal Engineers, unmask the Crimson Circle, and race to defuse a conspiracy that reaches into the royal court itself. But as bridges fall and loyalties fracture, they’ll discover the deadliest explosive isn’t powder-it’s the truth about who they are... and what they’re willing to sacrifice to save each other.
From the pen of Seraphina Sinclair comes a breathtaking debut in the Blackthorn Saga-a tale of forged identities, forbidden loyalty, and bridges that must be broken before they can be rebuilt.
Perfect for fans of The Alienist, Mortal Engines, and The Essex Serpen, The Scarlet Bridge blends historical authenticity with pulse-pounding suspense and emotionally resonant storytelling.
Paper defeats powder. But only if someone dares to write the truth.