An enchanting, sapphic fantasy adventure for fans of Rachel Gillig and Stephanie Garber.
Witchcraft is a death sentence in the Kingdom of Scheragen. The ancient art of sorcery has been rooted out, and the women who practiced it have been either executed or banished to a remote continent. Only one witch remains: Ulyana, a prisoner of war kept alive for the sole purpose of aiding the King as his spymaster. An immortal temptress who, before the war, earned the nasty reputation of eating the hearts of men who had scorned her.
For twenty-three year old Evelynn Callow, a member of one of the wealthiest families in the Kingdom, cautionary tales of witches have long been the subject of her nightmares. So when Evelynn discovers that her younger sister has gone missing, she can't help but assume that she has been abducted by the Kingdom's enemies. But only Ulyana has the power to track down Evelynn's lost sister, a fact that leads Evelynn into a desperate and potentially lethal bargain: in exchange for the witch's magic, Ulyana will periodically feed on Evelynn's blood. As they travel together into the unknown, Evelynn begins to question the reality for which her illustrious life has depended, as well as whether or not Ulyana may actually desire the contents of Evelynn's heart rather than her veins.
"In a novel of witchcraft, heroism, and drop-dead romance, the real sorcery behind Callow is de Reeder's storytelling. Once you're under her spell, days melt, time blurs... de Reeder is a true enchantress of prose." - Jane Lockwood, Former Editor in Chief of Love & Squalor