Darkling: A Dark Arabian Romantasy Inspired by Aladdin
Author: Isabella Khalidi
Release Date: October 12, 2026
Arranged Marriage
Forced Proximity
Age Gap (he’s 45, she’s 28)
Only One Bed
He’s Very Possessive (she might kinda like it)
Desert Daddy with Desert Magic
Slowest of Slow Burns with a Big Payoff
“My Wife”
Touch Her & 💀
Burn the World for Her
Once upon a time, the Grand Vizier fell in love.
I have never believed in fate.
Fate is merely a convenient excuse used by people too weak to admit that they have surrendered control of their own lives. I built mine with cold precision. Kingdoms have fallen because I deemed them inconvenient. Men who once commanded armies learned to lower their eyes in my presence. Even the Sultan of Idris has long since forgotten the difference between ruling a kingdom and sitting upon its throne.
I was not given power. I took it.
And I have never regretted taking anything.
Until Nasrin.
The Sultan’s daughter was supposed to be nothing more than a useful piece on a board I had already mastered: a sheltered princess with a pretty face, a useless title, a nobody who lacked the understanding of the machinery of the court that surrounded her.
A wife in name.
A servant in practice.
A problem I would solve in time.
But I was wrong.
There is more to Nasrin than I first assumed. Beneath her composure lies a mind that refuses to bend, an inner strength I cannot break, and something else I cannot explain—something that awakens the ancient currents beneath the desert whenever she is near. The more I try to understand her, the less certain I become of anything.
My magic answers to her.
My instincts react to her.
And, most dangerously of all, I begin to want things that were never part of my plans.
Her loyalty.
Her presence beside me.
Her body beneath mine.
Her.
I have spent my life eliminating every weakness before it has the chance to become one. Yet Nasrin is no weakness I can simply remove.
She is the first thing I have ever wanted badly enough to destroy the world to keep.
And when my enemies discover exactly what she has become to me, they will learn a truth far more terrible than any legend ever told about the Grand Vizier of Idris:
I can survive the loss of a kingdom.
I can survive the loss of power.
But if anyone takes my wife from me, there will be nothing left for me to rule when I am finished with them.
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Intended for readers 18+. Dark themes, morally gray characters, and spice that earns every bit of the “vicious” in the series title.
Feral is part of The Vicious Villains Anthology, a shared-world series featuring interconnected stories by multiple authors.
Books in the Series:
Incarnate by Charlotte Mallory @cmalloryauthor
Feral by Cassandra Aston @cassandra.aston.author
Darkling by Isabella Khalidi @isabellakhalidiauthor
Timeless by Amber Bunch @amber.bunch_author
Delirium by Dawn Darling @dawndarlingauthor
IG: @isabellakhalidiauthor @rrbooktours
