The Emperor

Dark Verse, Book 3

By: RuNyx

Narrated by: Wen Ross, Ramona Master

What happens when a legacy of ruin mates with a realm of blood?

Heir to the notorious Tenebrae Outfit, Dante Maroni has been trained since birth. A silent rebel in the shadows, he has learned to hide his ruthlessness under his charm, his brutality under his suits, and his love for one woman under his silence. Infiltrating the Syndicate responsible for the missing children, Dante discovers information that shatters his reality and forces him to trigger a lethal game.

Daughter of the Maroni housekeeper, Amara has loved Dante for longer than she's known it. Abducted and tortured at the young age of fifteen, she loses herself, her life, and her home as she knows it. Years after, unknowingly protected, she's found some semblance of normalcy when her world collapses again, forcing her to join the game.

Mysteries are unraveled. Secrets are discovered. And their young love is transformed, replaced by a deep intimacy, power, and survival.

The reluctant king and inevitable queen play. An empire of death is born.

This Emperor is a contemporary dark mafia romance. It contains graphic violence and sexual content, and is therefore intended for mature listeners.

Cover Design by Nelly R.

©2021 RuNyx (P)2023 Podium Audio

My favorite couple

“𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚, 𝘼𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙖,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙡𝙮, 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙖 𝙫𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩. “𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙞𝙩. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙛—𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙧𝙝𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙢. 𝙄 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪.”

Dante. Dante. Dante. Probably my favorite fictional man. He’s a badass with emotional scars you can’t see, a deadly man with an artistic heart, and he just loves a 🐱…

𝘼 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘿𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙞 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙡𝙡.

And Amara, one of my favorite FMCs ever. Her journey out of utter darkness, with Dante, her mother, and her friends by her side is just so beautiful and emotional.

Then you put them together, and the yearning and longing of their forbidden love affair, and you get one of my most favorite love stories ever.

“𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙, 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙛—𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙤 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙨.”

RuNyx gives us such a beautiful story, with beautiful and heartbreakingly emotional prose, and I was absolutely blown away by Ramona Master’s narration for Amara; it was just so wonderfully done.

What this book is giving:
✅ Dark Romance
✅ Childhood crush to Lovers
✅ Forbidden Love
✅ Epic love story
✅ Dante: the Dirtiest talking sweetheart
✅ The shack 💔
✅ Amara’s trauma 😭
✅ The healing journey 💖

Beautiful story!

Great addition, loved the background of both of their characters! Excellent narrators! Can’t wait to listen to the rest of the series!

Sooo good

Dante motherf*uckin Moroni is thee man omg love him better the first book in my opinion absolutely loved it

So good

I love this series so much! Amara and Dante’s story warmed my heart! They are just the cutest. I highly recommend.

Amazing story!

I absolutely loved the story between Amara and Dante. Yes it was very heavy at times and the suspense at times had me sitting at the edge of my seat! I was so glad for this one to be a dual POV, it made the audiobook perfect!

Love it

Love it so much danteee marry me plzn shdhsh shshhshs shshshsh shshdh shshdbeb shehshhshe shsjbensh sjjahshsheje heheheheheh ejjehebe js jbb jjjj

⭐️YOUNG LOVE CRUELLY TESTED ~ to~ BEAUTIFUL HEA’S⭐️

It’s a long journey that Dante and Amara take from an innocent 11 yr old’s naive looks on a 15 yr old boy.. to crushes when they were young.. to the brutal bloody world they both cruelly suffered in.

Dante Maroni, Prince to the Tenebrae Outfit and the naive daughter of his father’s cleaner.. it was never going to work. And RuNyx excelled at capturing all the elements of their cruel and twisted journey which had traumatic obstacles that would emotionally and physically leave scars. Infatuation, young love, adult lust, kidnapping, brutality, secrets, heartache, pain, courage, strength, sex,healing and tears of beauty, loyalty and devotion as their happily ever after draws near. There’s an enemy though, so they’d better look over their shoulders because he’s coming for pain and bloodshed.

Worth a credit? Yes, I loved it.. and I’m looking forward to continuing the series.

She was worth the wait.

The first 2 books weren't favorites of mine so I didn't really have high hopes for this one, but boy was I wrong.

Dante & Amara were everything. Saying that Amara was the one I loved the most. The way my heart hurt for her and then the way I rooted for her. She never gave up no matter how many times she wanted too.

I will say these stories have alot of twists.

Story line was more detailed and romance based

I love Dante and Amara ! There relationship build on childhood crush turned to obsession and possession of one another.

I loved books 1 and 2. But…

This one seemed a bit disorganized. Like trying to cram in too many plot points. This diminished the depth of the characters. It felt like they were all dumbed down to the simplistic versions to cut the dialog to make room for more twists in the story. The first two books were more relatable versions of the characters. And if you haven’t read books one and two, you may be a little but lost in this book.