Swordcrossed

For ten years, dutiful Mattinesh 'Matti' Jay has tried and failed to restore his family's struggling wool business, and his arranged marriage is his last real chance. Tradition means the ceremony can be disrupted by a sword challenge, so he needs a capable swordsman as his best man, and all he can afford is Luca Piere, a charming con artist trying to outrun a crime in his hometown. Blackmailed into giving sword lessons to an inconveniently handsome and painfully responsible merchant, Luca finds that neither Matti nor his family's troubles are quite what they seem, and the two are drawn into a conspiracy and toward each other. Marketed as a high-heat, low-stakes, enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance, it is set in the guild city of Glassport; All About Romance found it charming and cozy but slow.