The Duke Steals Hearts & Other Body Parts - Hardcover

by Elias Cold (Author)

2026 ALA Rainbow List title

A trans teen who steals and ransoms body parts with magic investigates a string of missing girls--falling in love with one of them from afar.

Wielding a magic that allows him to pop off limbs, con artist Phyllis steals body parts and his partner Lucent ransoms them. Everyone who knows about Phyllis's magic is afraid of him--except for Lucent. But his partner's love comes with one condition: Phyllis must keep stealing. But when a mark can't afford ransom for his missing nose, Phyllis loses his resolve. The man claims his sister, Adeline, was taken, and without her money he can't pay until she's found.

Intrigued, Phyllis investigates Adeline's disappearance, but she is not the only missing girl in their seedy city. To gain answers from the nobility, Phyllis masquerades as a duke--Lord Phillip of Rabbiton--and begins to fall in love with both stories of Adeline and the man he's becoming to try and find her. Soon, he's not sure he ever wants to return to Lucent and their life of crime together.

When he finally finds Adeline with another missing girl, it turns out they're not dead--but undead.

To win Adeline's heart and break from his toxic past, Phillip will have to scheme to keep his title and master his evolving magic.

Author Biography

Elias Cold (they/them) is a speculative fiction writer, editor, and former medical geneticist. Their work tends to center queer and neurodivergent characters and has appeared in Rabbit Journal and Andromeda Spaceways Magazine. They live in rural Australia with their two cats.