The Thorn and the Icicle
Eleanor Ashford ran from her wedding, from a controlling husband-to-be, and from a life she no longer wanted. All she craved was distance, and she finds it in the worst possible place: a snowbound village at the edge of the world, where the storm never lifts and the locals speak in hushed warnings about the forest beyond the tree line. Wrenmoor has survived for generations under a brutal bargain with the Holly Queen, a winter spirit who demands tribute to keep the cold from claiming every soul. This year, the Queen's price has risen, and when Eleanor arrives, the villagers see in her face the likeness of a figure from an old prophecy. Declan Marlowe, the innkeeper with secrets of his own, knows Eleanor is in danger. He knows the council will try to offer her to the Queen. And he knows that Silas Crane, the village's most ruthless elder, will stop at nothing to see the bargain renewed. Trapped by snow, tradition, and a curse she doesn't understand, Eleanor must unravel the truth of who she really is, and whether love in this frozen place can save her, or damn them all. One choice. One winter. One chance to rewrite an ancient wrong.