Excerpts fantasy Read an Excerpt From Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibañez She was never meant to be seen. Now she’s a weapon the world can’t ignore. By Isabel Ibañez | Published on December 3, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibañez, a historical and romantic fantasy out from Saturday Books on January 13, 2026. As a sculptress, Ravenna Maffei has always shaped beauty from stone but she has a terrible secret. Desperate to save her brother, she enters a competition hosted by Florence’s most feared immortal family, revealing a dark power in a city where magic is forbidden.Now a captive in the cutthroat city of Florence, Ravenna is forced into a dangerous task where failure meets certain death at the hands of Saturnino dei Luni, the immortal family’s mesmerizing but merciless heir. But as he draws her closer, Ravenna realizes the true threat lies beyond Florence’s walls.The Pope’s war against magic is closing in, and Ravenna is no longer just a prisoner but a prize to be claimed. As trusting the wrong person becomes lethal, Ravenna must survive the treacherous line between a pope’s obsession and the seductive immortal who might be the end of her—or surrender her power to a city on the brink of war. Capitolo Due The hour grew late, and the night became longer and darker as Ravenna laid her tools in a neat row on the scarred wooden table in her studio. The flat and claw chisels, the rasp, a file, her hammer—practically an extension of her palm—her favorite pumice stone, and a soft-bristled brush. Ravenna glanced at the single window that allowed spools of moonlight to gloss over the cramped space. She’d lined the sill with eggshells filled with cinnamon and cloves, painted stones, and snips of parchment with poetry, riddles, and fragments of stories written on them. Offerings to keep the fae at bay. Her mother was as superstitious as she was practical, and she’d raised Ravenna to be the same. Magic had no place in Volterra. Best to keep it out by any means possible. And stifle her own. Ravenna turned back to her worktable. It was her favorite time to sculpt marble, during the midnight hours while all the world slept. She inhaled deeply, comforted by the familiar scents the storage building kept trapped within its stone walls: flour, vanilla, aged wine, canvas, and pine. Outside, the wind began its nightly howl as winter gave its final cry across the rolling hills of Volterra. Ravenna tied a clean linen apron twice around her waist, lit another candle, and then eyed the bozzetto critically. It stood only a foot tall, but there was something about the figurine that seemed to overwhelm the quiet of her studio. For her subject, Ravenna had chosen Pluto, god of the underworld, and even without his face completed, the air around him swirled menacingly. The lushness of his clothing accentuated the broad width of his shoulders, and his strong hands were edged with blunt fingers capable of wielding the most dangerous of weapons. Even without a face, he seemed threatening. Finish me, topolina, or you’ll regret it, he seemed to say in a deadly hush. Ravenna had never been called a little mouse before in all her life. With a burst of annoyance she took the flat chisel and hammer and struck the marble. It gave way easily, the white stone as pure and sparkling as if it had come from the moon. With expert strikes, she nibbled away at the stone, angling cheekbones, carving the fine line of his eyelids, trapping the shadows that made up the contours of his face. With the claw chisel, she scratched the long sweep of eyebrows into place, the arched curve both sardonic and stern. With every step, Ravenna worked to improve each strike: deepening the lines, softening his mouth, adding the wavy details of his shoulder-length hair. It wasn’t until Ravenna finished that she’d realized what she’d done. The face that stared back at her belonged to the man from the alley. Not the Capitano, but the one with the perfect face, coldly beautiful and aloof. Ravenna gaped at the statue, annoyed at herself. How could she have immortalized his face in a work that was meant to save her brother? She shook her head, furious at herself. The wind outside the studio gave a sudden howling protest, and the wooden door burst open with a sudden slam. She jumped at the sound, dust swirling off the worktable, covering her homespun dress in speckles of white and gray. She gaped at the whirlwind as if she were caught in snowstorm, but then the wind abruptly retreated, as if satisfied with the mess it had made. The wooden door swung shut. Her mother would say it was an ill omen. Buy the Book Graceless Heart Isabel Ibañez Buy Book Graceless Heart Isabel Ibañez Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleIndieBoundTarget Ravenna stepped away from the bozzetto and tilted her head. There was still something missing from the piece, an elusive something that would set her work above the rest of the competition. Her calm demeanor wobbled. She’d never presented her work before, other than to her own family. But now there would be an audience, critics evaluating her work. And she knew exactly what they would say. She was an impostor. Her creation was amateur, with no heart and soul. She was a woman doing the noble work of a man. Ravenna set her tools on the table, thrust her hands on her hips. She couldn’t control what the others thought, but she could control what she did now. And that was to create something to save her brother. “Ravenna!” She half turned. Her littlest sister, Tereza, stepped shyly inside her studio, dragging her favorite blanket behind her, a ratty thing that had kept company with all the Maffei children. “Amorina,” Ravenna said. “Little love, did you come here by yourself?” Tereza walked to the tall wooden worktable and stood on tiptoe, clutching the edge to keep balance. “All by myself. Who is it?” she asked. Her dark brown hair was fitted in a braid that draped over a slender shoulder. At only five, Tereza exuded a calming presence, at odds with the rest of the family who spoke in loud and louder volumes. She tucked her index finger inside her mouth, a habit their mother had tried to curb. “Pluto,” Ravenna said. “Do you know who he is?” Tereza nodded once, her delicate features scrunching. “Not the hero.” “Depends on who you ask,” Ravenna said with a wink. “I’ve always thought villains are misunderstood.” Tereza pulled her finger out of her mouth with a small pop. “It’s not done.” The corners of Ravenna’s lips deepened. “I agree. What’s missing, do you think?” “Something shiny,” Tereza said, shrugging. Ravenna pulled at her bottom lip with her teeth. Something shiny. An idea flickered in her mind, one that terrified her even as it sunk deeper in her, a stone tossed into a river. Tereza dropped down from her tiptoed position and turned back to the door. “Mamma says for you to come inside. That your eyes will suffer in the dark. That your work is done, and no one is asking for perfect. But she said to tell you it is perfect. I don’t know why. She hasn’t seen it.” Ravenna tugged at her sister’s long braid. “And what else?” “She doesn’t want you to go tomorrow.” Her heart squeezed. “You’re a good little messenger.” “She also said your breakfast is cold,” Tereza said seriously. “And that it serves you right. She says you are too thin and lonely.” “Five more minutes,” Ravenna said, rolling her eyes. “Will you tell her?” “Yes, but Mamma won’t like it,” Tereza said before slipping out the door. Ravenna stared at the door, unseeing. Her idea tugged at her. She flicked her eyes to the long wooden shelves lining the storage walls, where she’d hidden a terrible secret. It was locked in a box, out of sight, but the air seemed to pulse around it. The hidden magic swirled around her. It whispered against her skin, coaxing her to come closer. No one in Volterra knew she had a whisper of that magic living inside her. From Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibañez. Copyright © 2026 by the author, and reprinted with permission of St. Martin’s Publishing Group. The post Read an Excerpt From <i>Graceless Heart</i> by Isabel Ibañez appeared first on Reactor.