Glossary of the Oathmarked World
I have plotted out 7 books, plus two short stories, one, Unbound Oath, you can get free here, and the other will be in Devious Delectable Decades, coming in 2026.
The world involves secret societies, magic, rituals, and more. While it's possible some of this will change as the books are written, here's what I have created for the Oathmarked world so far.
The Oathmarked
Six elite warriors chosen from noble bloodlines of La Conseil des Ombres, the Council of Shadows. Each bears a magical sigil—their Oathmark—obtained through sacred rite. They are the guardians of the Veil and enforcers of the Council’s will, trained to fight the Hollow Court and anything else that threatens to pass through from the other side.
La Conseil des Ombres (The Council of Shadows)
The ancient ruling body of New Orleans’ magical society. Elders from the six noble houses form its foundation, each controlling one aspect of the city’s mystical and political power. Their purpose is to preserve the balance between the mortal world and the realm beyond the Veil, as well as to enforce laws, sanction rituals, and suppress forbidden acts. They select the Oathmarked warriors from their families and perform the Oathmarked ritual.
Although designed to maintain order and safety, the Council isn't immune from corruption. Their greatest crime was the erasure of the Seventh House.
The Six Noble Bloodlines of La Conseil des Ombres
House Marchand – The Strategists
Gift: Tactical foresight
Domain: Diplomacy, strategy, and control
Book One: Shadow Bound
When his brother is murdered, Darian Marchand inherits both his position and his bride. Bound to Delphine Rousseau by an arranged marriage meant to preserve a family alliance, Darian follows through with the ceremony suspecting her to be behind his brother's death. His suspicion grows deeper when he discovers she carries a forbidden symbol tied to a lost prophecy. But as they unravel secrets buried by the Council, their arranged union turns into something far more dangerous to their hearts and their lives.
House Rousseau–The Flamebearers
Gift: Pyromancy
Domain: Creation, purification, destruction
Book Two: Marked in Flame
Haunted by a fire that destroyed everything he loved, Théo Rousseau lives in self-imposed exile until Isadora Morel, a city fire marshal with secrets of her own, forces him to face the past. As cursed flames sweep through New Orleans, their bond reignites old magic and awakens a Hollow Court ritual meant to burn the world.
House Duvall – The Bloodbinders
Gift: Blood and lineage magic
Domain: Healing, sacrifice, ancestral memory
Tattoo artist and blood mage Mathis Duvall prefers the company of ink and ghosts to the living, but when Nadine Moreau, a trauma nurse who sees ancestral spirits, crosses his path, the Veil begins to bleed. Together they must face a rising tide of bloodborn corruption and the ancient lineage that links her to the Seventh Oathmarked.
House Lemoine – The Dreamcutters
Gift: Dream manipulation
Domain: Prophecy, memory, subconscious
Book Four: Dreams of Ash
Lucid dream researcher Élias Lemoine has spent his life chasing shadows through the dreamscape. He meets Aurélie Devaux in his dreams long before they meet in life, and realizes some dreams are more than memory, they’re prophecy. Their connection may be the key to restoring the forgotten Seventh, or the reason the Veil finally breaks.
House Favreau – The Veilwalkers
Gift: Passage through the Veil
Domain: Secrets, exploration, shadow
Favreaus are explorers of the unseen. They step through the Veil, mapping the places where light and shadow meet. Each journey changes them, leaving traces of the otherworld behind.
Book Five: Veilborn
Private investigator Jules Favreau has walked the Veil longer than anyone alive, but when a blind musician named Céleste Laurent begins hearing its call through her music, he’s drawn into a race against time. Together, they must stop the Hollow Court before the Veil tears wide open, and face a truth that could cost Jules his humanity.
House Noire – The Soulforged
Gift: Soulbinding and protection
Domain: Guardianship, loyalty, endurance
Book Six: The Soulforged
Weaponsmith Dorian Noire bears the weight of a vow he couldn’t fulfill. When Mireille Faure, a Veil-cartographer with no memory of her past, stumbles into his forge, their souls recognize each other long before their minds do. Together, they must unite the surviving Oathmarked and awaken the Seventh before the Hollow Court destroys the world.
House Noctier (The Seventh House)
Erased from history.
Believed to have walked too deeply into the Veil, merging light and darkness in a way the Council could not control.
Origin Story: Ashes of the Veil in Devious Delectable Decades (you will not need to have read this to read the series): Back in 1830 New Orleans, Etienne Noctier, the last of his family, emerged from the Veil wounded and bound equally between the Veil and living world. The gentle hands of Gabriella Moreau, a Creole Traiteur, heal his body and his heart, but can't release the hold of the Veil. Their union defied the laws of La Conseil des Ombres and created a fracture in the Veil, merging life and death, light and shadow. From that forbidden bond, a new soul was conceived, Lazare, and a prophecy was borne.
Book Seven: The Seventh Oath
Two hundred years later, Angeline Toussaint, a Veil researcher, uncovers a hidden sigil in the ruins of the Crevecoeur Archive and frees Lazare Noctier, the erased seventh Oathmarked, bound to her by a love that has existed throughout time. Their reunion tears the Veil wide open, unleashing the Hollow Court and the truth the Council killed to protect.
As New Orleans fractures, Angeline and Lazare must face the foes that destroyed their first life, and the choice that could end this one.
Magic & the Veil
The Veil
A mystical boundary separating the mortal world from the realm of spirits, lost knowledge, and corrupted power. It's a living entity. Behind it is the Hollow Court, who seeks to escape and replace the Council's rule in the living world.
The Hollow Court
An exiled faction descended from corrupted bloodlines who seek to tear the Veil open and absorb its magic. It's led by a the masked figure known only as The Usher.
Oaths
A binding magical contract sworn during the Rite of the Mark. It seals loyalty to the Council and links soul to purpose. Breaking an oath can shatter both mind and magic.
The Oathmark
A sigil etched in blood and magic upon each warrior’s body during initiation. It glows or shifts in response to power, emotion, or bond. No two are alike.
The Rite of the Mark
A sacred ritual that transforms chosen heirs into Oathmarked warriors. Each rite demands sacrifice of blood, of memory, or of love.
The Arx
Hidden stronghold of the Oathmarked Brotherhood. Initially the home of House Noctier, the Council took it over. It's usually referred to by the name of the Oathkeeper. It's part archive, part sanctuary, part war room.
The Prophecy of the Seventh
“When the love across time is reborn,
the Seventh shall rise,
and with him, the Veil shall crumble.
The world will awaken to its reckoning."
Other Terms & Concepts
The Usher
Leader of the Hollow Court. A figure cloaked in shadow, master of corruption and memory. His true identity is a secret lost to time.
Veilwalkers
Those who can step through the Veil between worlds. Most are of House Favreau—but some, like Olivier (the bastard child of a Favreau) and Lazare, were never meant to have this gift.
Revenants
Corrupted souls that slip through Veil breaches. Neither living nor dead, they hunger for the energy of those marked by magic.
Rite de Lien (Rite of Binding)
An ancient ceremony once used to join two souls, an Oathmarked and his counterpart, through power, emotion, and memory. Now forbidden after the binding that birthed the Seventh Prophecy, and the existence of Lazare Noctier.
The Archive of Crevecoeur
A crumbling library the French Quarter of New Orleans. It hides relics, sigils, and sealed records tied to the earliest Oathmarked rites. It is here that Angelina first uncovers Caelan’s erased sigil.
Veilfire
A rare, dangerous flame born when the Veil is breached. It consumes both matter and magic, leaving behind only echoes.
Echoes
Residual memories or fragments of emotion left behind by powerful events, especially rites, deaths, or broken oaths. Angelina and Lazare's connection manifests through such echoes.
The Brotherhood
The six Oathmarked warriors who remain loyal to each regardless of what the Counsil does. Bound not just by duty, but by friendship, loss, and the knowledge that one of them may have to fall to save the rest.
You can read Unbound Oath, a story set in the Oathmarked world free. Get your copy here.
