Jolandistadler17
Strasbourg, 1518.
The city trembles under plague, famine and a terror no prayer seems able to silence. Dozens of people are seized by a strange affliction that forces them to dance without rest, their feet bleeding against the cobbles of the market square.
Among them is Lyanna Troffea, Isabella's mother, condemned to dance herself into death. Isabella is torn between cages. Forced into the wealthy Albrecht household with a marriage looming over her, she becomes a possession in fine dresses, her life arranged by men who claim it is for her protection.
But in the shadows of her chamber another claim is laid. A demon, ancient and cunning, visits her in smoke and whispers. He offers her escape from marriage, at a price she cannot name.
As the witch hunters scour the streets, burning women in the name of purity, Isabella clings to Brother Anselm, the only man who sees her soul instead of her silence. Yet even he warns that what haunts her is no sickness of the body but something older, hungrier, but possession itself.
Caught between God, duty and the demon's embrace, Isabella must decide whether to resist or surrender. Each choice drives her closer to ruin. A wedding that will cage her, a demon who would claim her and a city tearing itself apart in the name of salvation.
In a world where fear feeds the darkness and fire devours the innocent, Isabella's fight is not just for her mother's life, but for her own soul.