The Archive of Unwritten Things: A Dark Academia Romance of Obsession, Ethics, and Restraint When rival scholars Dr. Audrey Grayson and Dr. Marcus Hale are forced to collaborate on a newly discovered medieval archive, they expect rivalry. What they find instead is something far more dangerous: a collection of texts that subtly alters reality through interpretation and citation. Every scholar who has studied the archive has vanished from academic memory-their work discredited, their names erased. And now Audrey and Marcus must decide: do they publish their findings and secure their careers, or do they protect the world from knowledge that was never meant to exist? This is not a story about falling in love. It's a story about two adults who fall in love by choosing restraint-and lose everything else because of it. About intellectual obsession dressed as scholarship. About prestige as corruption. About institutions that reward proximity to power, not truth. What readers will find: Slow-burn romance rooted in ethical alignment, not lust Rival scholars who respect each other before they desire each other Dark academia with real consequences-no redemption arcs Protagonists in their late 30s/early 40s navigating adult stakes Literary speculative fiction with romantic gravity An ending that refuses to be softened Perfect for readers who loved: The Secret History, Possession by A.S. Byatt, The Historian, Ninth House (tone, not plot) Not for readers seeking: Spice-forward romance, enemies-to-lovers tropes, campus aesthetics without substance, happy endings that don't cost anything Some choices destroy your career. The right ones destroy it anyway.