After years of warring in Holy Land, Roland, is finally back home in Normandy to put his affairs into order. Home, he has a betrothed, in Holy Land, he has wealth, riches and an estate to manage, though it seems to him that he has nothing but dead mates and demons to dance with him. Left for dead in the forest he is saved by Ide and if mistrust festers inside him towards this witch, he cannot help that connection he feels growing towards her. Ide is a healer and a brewer but to many she is an abhorrent witch and the devil incarnate. When she picks up a knight in the forest she deems it a welcome opportunity to prove them wrong and save someone for a change. Laden with grief and ale, Ide manages a miracle but the man's venom does little to ease her woes - and less to ease her misery. Little by little, Ide and Roland get to know one another. Riddled with secrets, burdened with grief they will learn to love, to laugh, to live.

A retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth, a story of fate, the struggle for power, and love found in the most unexpected places. ***** Persephone has been raised in Olympus all her life - her mother absent, her father a cruel king, with her siblings teaching her all they know. She has seen all of what the gods and goddesses do and she is sick of it. When she learns her safety is threatened by staying in Olympus, she flees to the Underworld. There she stays until she learns that her leaving has caused the world to wilt. But leaving behind her newfound friends and Lady of the Underworld is something she will not do willingly, no matter the consequences. [[word count: 150,000-200,000 words]] Cover designed by Regina Dionela Content Warning: Mentions of rape and incest

He asks about the ocean and she tells him the story of a little mermaid who falls for a human and even when every step feels like walking on broken glass, she still dances for him. "But why did she dance for him if it hurt?" He asks. And she smiles. "Because she loved him,"