Serpent & Dove

Mahurin, Shelby. Serpent & Dove. Book 1 of the Serpent & Dove series. 2019. 513p. ISBN 9780062878021. 

Louise le Blanc is the daughter of the most powerful witch in the country. She was raised in a life of privilege and opulence. Then she discovered that her whole purpose in life was to be sacrificed by the same mother that raised her for the purpose of once and for all eliminating the royal line that for so long has been hunting and killing witches. Louise fled with little more than the clothes on her back, and found refuge in the royal capital of Cesarine, thinking that her mother would never chase her into her enemy's domain.

For two years Louise has eked a living, stealing when she needed to, finding refuge in the attic of a theater, and all the while hiding her magical abilities for fear of either being discovered as a witch by the Chasseurs, the Church's witch hunters, or of being found by her mother's many spies. 

Reid Diggory is a captain of Chasseurs. He does not suffer witches, and his primary aim is to eliminate them all. A ward of the Cardinal, Reid has climbed the ranks quickly due to his skills and his wits. For him, the world is ordered and witches must be burned at the stake for the sake of God and of the people.

Through a series of unfortunate events, Louise and Reid's path cross and are found in a compromising situation. The Cardinal forces Reid and Louise to marry, to stop gossip from spreading further. A Chasseur and a secret witch are now forced to live together in the Cardinal's palace. However, this incident also alerted Louise's mother to her whereabouts, and her need for her daughter to die and end the Church's threat is dire. 

With enemies converging on her, Louise finds herself facing death from both sides, unless she can convince her new husband that not all witches are bad ...