The Devil and the Deep Cover Piece + Excerpt Reveal #2!

Some stories need to be told…

I met Myra and Yael writing another story (one you do NOT need to read to enjoy this series). It didn’t take long to realize there was something between them. What exactly it was, I couldn’t be sure at first, but after a year or two of ruminating about them, I realized what it was.

Some would classify this as an enemies-to-lovers trope, but it’s more complicated than that.

Are they really enemies? No. Not exactly.

Does she loathe him? Yep. Sure does.

Does he hate her? Wellllll… *cue the complication*

Let’s just say these two embark on quite a journey to figure one another out over the 350+ pages in the book. And neither one makes it easy.

But where’s the fun in easy?

Give me a slow evolution (and burn) every day of the week. I want to see them EARN each other; hopefully you do too. 😉

Here’s a brand new sneak peek excerpt from the book and the second puzzle piece of the cover revealed!

THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP
A The Devil’s Playground Novel
2026 © Amber Lynn Natusch

PROLOGUE

My eyes shot wide and I screamed against my gag as realization of what the queen had said settled upon me—as well as what it meant.

And that punishment, dear Myra, begins now…

As soon as those words left her mouth, the sparkling black-brown stone hanging between her breasts burst with blinding light, and searing pain surged through me. My glorious tail ripped in two, and I watched in horror as the mutilated limb slowly morphed into smooth human legs. Panic sunk its claws in deep, and I fought for breath as the sea I’d once trusted began to fill my chest, slowly drowning me.

I craned my neck, desperate to find a way out of my nightmare, but all I found was the sneering face of the man who’d betrayed me and a swirling circle of water high above him, growing as wide as the throne room’s vast ceiling. My body slowly lifted toward it as he released his hold on me, and I kicked my new legs frantically to try to escape its pull, but the whirlpool was mighty, and I no longer was. Without my tail, the vortex sucked me in easily. Its roar drowned out the laughter of the queen and the one who had deceived me as it carried me into the darkened ocean above and my punishment beyond.

I torpedoed through the water, doing all I could to remain conscious as the pressure and lack of air in my lungs begged to be relieved. My vision blurred at the edges, and I knew that if I succumbed to the sweet promise of sleep, it would be the eternal kind. Instead, I dug my nails deep into my palms and fought the urge with what little strength I had left. Just as the darkness began to pull me under, I saw an eerie blue light growing larger by the second, reflecting off the surface.

Moments later, I sliced through the waterline and flew through the air toward the shore. I crashed hard, cutting my naked body on the jagged edges of the rocks as I rolled to a stop. Panicked, I ripped off the gag covering my mouth as I fought for breath. Coughing and sputtering up salty water between ragged inhales, I dragged myself back to the shallow water lapping at the shore, terror coursing through my veins that the queen had truly done as she’d promised.

The moment I touched the ocean, water filled my lungs once again.

You will live your life on land forever, Myra Morningtide, never to return to the sea…

This is happening, I thought as my heart thundered against its bony cage. This is really happening… A whole new kind of terror rippled through my body, forcing a tortured scream from my throat, but it was cut short when I dared a look over my shoulder to see what lay beyond the shoreline. A familiar skyline of decayed and derelict buildings in the background slapped me with the real curse I had to face.

Because I knew exactly where I’d been delivered.

The Devil’s Playground was as notorious below as it was above.

Fear and rage warred within me, the former because whatever hell I’d expected, it paled in comparison to the one I now faced; and the latter because the one I’d given my heart to had been the architect of that fate.

I couldn’t have done it without you…

I shuddered at the memory of his voice in my ear—the feel of his hands on my body—and I fought to block them out as I vowed to get my revenge someday, at any cost.

I’d given everything to him, and he’d taken it all away in an instant. My home. My life. My tail. But every time I shut my eyes, all I could see was the smile on his face as he’d delivered ‘the traitor’ to the queen, and the sparkle of malice in his eyes as his arm draped around her shoulders as it once had mine. All I could hear was their shared laughter as I was ripped from ‘their’ kingdom. And as I sat on the shore, shivering and terrified, I realized the harshest truth of all: that my punishment was never designed to be a punishment at all.

It was a death sentence.

One the Devil’s Playground would gladly deliver.

All Myra Morningtide wants to do is go home.

Unfortunately for the cursed mermaid, she’s been banished from the sea and landlocked in The Devil’s Playground—a rogue pocket of Seattle that the outcasts and miscreants of the supernatural world call home. Myra would do anything for the chance to return and enact revenge on the one who betrayed her; the one responsible for her punishment.

And Yael Kristoris plans to exploit that truth.

The charming yet cunning fae from Myra’s recent past can’t be trusted, but when deadly events force her into a magically binding deal with him, she has no choice but to use her secret power to help find what he seeks if she wants a shot at the vengeance she craves.

But as it goes in The Playground, exposure is dangerous and secrets can kill, and Myra fears Yael will risk both to meet his end—even if it causes hers.

THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP, the first gritty urban fantasy romance novel in the The Devil’s Playground series by USA Today bestselling author Amber Lynn Natusch.

Coming April 9, 2026
Preorder Your Copy Today

Romance Tropes + Plot Bunnies
Badass FMC With Stabby Tendencies
Morally Gray Shadow Daddy MMC
Enemies-to-Lovers
Secret Past
Emotional Scars + Baggage
Betrayal
Estranged Family
Exiled From Home
Chosen Family
Forced Proximity
Forced Alliance
Fish Out of Water (Umm….Literally)
Revenge
Volatile Powers
Unique Magic
✦
Critters + Creatures
Mermaid
Fae
Shifters
Vampires
Witches
Druids
Ogres
Incubus
Adorable Cuddly Otters