Encantado: A Dark Folktale of Drowning and Desire (Devoted Monsters #6)
Manon Van Daal
The river has always been hungry.
In a Spanish colonial settlement built where fresh water meets salt, a young woman refuses the future chosen for her: marriage, obedience, and quiet erasure. When the men who circle her begin to close in, she walks into the river—and comes back changed.
The encantado lives there.
Dolphin by day. Man by night.
River spirit. Predator. Lover.
He sees her clearly. Believes her without question. When she decides to stop running, he does not ask her to be gentle.
Together, they hunt.
One by one, the men who believe women are prey follow her into the water. One by one, the river takes what it is owed. What grows between her and the encantado is not softness or salvation—but recognition, alignment, and an intimacy forged through shared judgment.
Encantado is a dark folkloric love story about desire as power, love as loyalty, and the romance of finding someone who will never ask you to forgive what the world has done to you.
Some love stories end in marriage.
This one ends in water, teeth, and freedom.
Rooted in South American river folklore and set against the violence of 17th-century colonial Florida, Encantado reimagines the myth of the boto as a story of female transformation and chosen partnership.
This is a love story where:
the heroine does not soften or repent
the monster does not need redemption
desire carries consequences
and intimacy means standing together when the world becomes unbearable
As the settlement’s men disappear and the women left behind begin to breathe freely for the first time, the girl becomes something other than human—river-born, and unstoppable. The encantado remains at her side, not as savior or master, but as consort and witness.
Their bond is exclusive. Devotional. Violent. Tender in its own feral way.
Encantado is lyrical, erotic, and merciless, a dark folkloric love story for readers who understand that romance does not require forgiveness, only truth.
Reader NotesDark folkloric love story
No redemption arc for predators
Central romantic bond with a non-human lover
If you believe love can be dangerous, loyal, and absolute—
the river is waiting.
romance tags
The 'Devoted Monsters' series
0.00 · 0 ratings- Little Red Blood Meridian: A Dark Fairytale Novella by Manon Van Daal Book #1
- Virgin Bride for the Krampus: A Dark Christmas Monster Romance Novella by Manon Van Daal Book #2
- The Salt Wife: A Dark Folk Tale of Grief and Vengeance and the Sea by Manon Van Daal Book #3
- Goldilocked: A Dark Folkloric Reverse Harem Bear Shifter Romance by Manon Van Daal Book #4
- Offerings For The Old God: A Dark Folklore Erotica by Manon Van Daal Book #5
- Encantado: A Dark Folktale of Drowning and Desire by Manon Van Daal Book #6
- The Witchfinder General's Inspection: An Erotic Folk Horror by Manon Van Daal Book #7
