| 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐲𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 | What do you do when everyone seems to want you dead? Kill them first, of course. Minerva Pyroline, assassin by night and heir to an empire by day, has one goal: Survive. No matter the obstacles. No matter the cost. But with political tensions on the rise, strange feelings for a secretive enemy prince, and destructive capabilities hidden within Minerva herself, the goal is nearly impossible to attain. In fighting fire with fire, killing to not be killed, she's tipped the scales of justice too far. Blood cannot be shed without a price. The goddess of retribution is coming to collect. When Minerva finds herself on the receiving end of the blade, she must answer its whispered question: Do you deserve mercy? ✧ 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐬 ✧ 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 ✧ 𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧 ✧ ─────────────────────────────────── 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐲 @𝐡𝐞𝐱_𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 Completed: 8-15-2022 Word Count: 100,000 - 110,000

A fierce warrior seduces a mysterious rebel to protect the king. --- Epsa proudly defends the nation as a member of King Makapu's Royal Guard. When a resistance movement threatens the kingdom from within, Makapu calls on Epsa for a task requiring more than just combat skills. Epsa must seduce Izra, a mysterious and magnetic rebel leader, and extract information to help the Royal Guard smother the rebellion. As she works to gain Izra's trust, Epsa finds herself developing unsettling feelings and reassessing everything she has ever known. Embroiled in a dangerous game of politics, Epsa must decide who to trust. Who to protect. And who must die. Prequel to "The Claimed: A Clash of Copper and Gold" (also works as a stand-alone novel) |2022 Wattys Shortlist| Trigger warning: This story contains descriptions of abuse and references to sexual assault

A stubborn prince joins forces with the beautiful son of his enemy to save his kingdom and his life. --- Prince Toom has never questioned the safety and power of his family - until he meets Niako, the cunning, arrogant, and unnervingly beautiful son of the enemy Rakim chief. In Rakim, Toom discovers heinous traditions beyond his imagination, such as Claiming enemies as personal slaves. When Toom returns to Rakim ten years later, Niako proves more enigmatic than ever, and Toom grapples with conflicting feelings and an unsettling attraction. With the throne and his own family's lives at stake, Toom attempts to seduce Niako to unveil Rakim's plots. Niako reveals little but offers foreboding advice: flee Rakim and never return. As political machinations and cruel appetites overtake the land, Toom must work together with Niako to save the nation. To protect those he loves. And to survive. Set forty-four years after "The Claimed: Rashika's Resistance" (also works as a stand-alone novel) |2022 Wattys Shortlist| Trigger warning: This story contains descriptions of abuse and references to sexual assault

❖ A hundred years after a disease burned the world down, Adriana is dragged into a war she didn't know existed. The Aztec gods are fighting for their lives, and they want her to help. ❖ Adriana is a fourth-generation member of Grillo Negro, a nomadic village trudging down the continent in search of warmth and other people. It's been a hundred years since human society was incinerated by an unknown disease. The descendents of the survivors live in fear that they'll be next. When a scouting trip takes a terrifying turn, Adriana finds herself caught up in a war that reveals a darker side of the apocalypse. The gods of her ancestors are real. They're standing between her village and a powerful enemy, and she and her friends might be the last thing that can help. The burning disease isn't gone, and the one who created it is only just getting started. ❖❖❖ Complete. Wattys 2021 and 2022 Shortlister. Comments and critiques are both welcome and appreciated. I write characters from many different backgrounds, with many different experiences. If you share those traits and find that I have misrepresented anything, please let me know! I am feedback-friendly and here to learn :)

[FULL KELS SERIES] When Ande wakes up on the bottom of the ocean with a fish's tail, she's not sure what she did wrong. Getting sacrificed by her island is a likely bet, but why---and why her---is a mystery. Out of her depth in an unfamiliar world, she soon finds herself wrapped up in the society of the Kels, the people who live under the sea. Desperate to get back to her island, she strikes an agreement with a squid-tailed boy whose sunny smile and knowledge of her language are a welcome assistance at first. Soon, though, she begins to sense that he's hiding something. Things take a turn for the worse when her way home gets complicated by the Kels' wars and several eerie myths about her people that may not be myths at all. The history of the Kels goes back farther than her own culture, and the harder she struggles to get back to land, the more the question arises: Does she belong in the water after all? ❖❖❖ Marked mature for darker themes and scenes, not spicy content. Compiled Kels Series: Book 1: Listen to the Water (COMPLETE) Wattys 2022 Shortlister Book 2: Song of the Deep (COMPLETE) Book 3: City of Coral (COMPLETE) Book 4: Sing to the Moon (COMPLETE) Book 5: Water Will Rise (COMPLETE) Comments and critiques are both welcome and appreciated. I write characters from many different backgrounds, with many different experiences. If you share those traits and find that I have misrepresented anything, please let me know! I am feedback-friendly and here to learn :)