The Ferryman's Bride

In the foggy town of Grey Hollow, the river is crossed only by an old ferry, and the ferry crosses only at night. Its ferryman, Cole, carries silent passengers who never speak and never look back — and he never sets foot on land. Ruth Calloway, who runs the riverside inn at the end of the road, has watched him for years. Then, in the blue hour between day and night, she finally speaks to him — and discovers that the man who belongs to the river is lonely, kind, and slowly being worn away by the toll every crossing demands.

As Ruth and Cole fall in love across the water, meeting at the dock where land and river meet, she learns the rivers terrible law: every crossing costs something precious, and the ferryman pays more than anyone. Desperate to save him before there is nothing left of the man she loves, Ruth uncovers the forgotten bargain that bound the first ferryman to the boat — and a secret no one in Grey Hollow has ever guessed. The toll is not what anyone believed it to be, and the price of Coles freedom is a choice only Ruth can make: a choice that will reframe everything she thought she knew about the river, about sacrifice, and about what love freely given can do.

A haunting, tender horror romance about a love that refuses to be collected, The Ferrymans Bride builds its dread slowly — through fog, silence, and the dark water — toward a powerful final twist and an ending full of hope.

A horror romance novel by Flor Nocturna.