Shadow's Grace. Shadow Duology, #1

What if your only chance at freedom meant making a deal with Death? She sees the dead. He was made from them. Both are trapped in lives they never wanted. Ariel never asked to be a spirit healer. She's supposed to help the dead find peace, but every ghost brings grief and chips away at her sanity. All she wants is to be normal, not a walking portal to the afterlife. Vio would trade anything to be dead.
Stitched into being from corpses and alchemy four-hundred years ago, he's been cursed with eternal life and a hatred for the madman who made him. Trapped in an immortal body made of stolen parts, he longs for the one thing he can never have: the chance to die. When Death - aka Dennis - offers them a way out, they can't refuse. They agree to take down the madman who created Vio, in exchange for the freedom they crave.
The catch? They only have a month, and Death's clock is always ticking. Ariel and Vio are plunged into a world of dark science, haunted cities, and nightmares made flesh. Surrounded by darkness, they find themselves pulled towards each other, despite every reason not to be. Packed with gothic horror and last chances, this is the story of two broken souls who dared to defy their fates. As their bond deepens into something heartbreakingly real, they'll have to face the truth: some love stories were never meant to survive.
Darkly romantic and haunting to the last breath, this gothic tale of action and alchemy is woven from death, vengeance, and the fragile beauty of hope.