A House That Drinks the Rain

To save her sister, Elowen Vale must bargain with the monster everyone fears. Twenty-eight-year-old apothecary Elowen Vale has spent years making herself indispensable, reasonable, and good. Good women are harder to condemn. Useful women survive. At least, that is what she has told herself since obedience failed to save her mother from execution. Then the Order of Saint Orra arrests Elowen's younger sister for trafficking forbidden magic.
Every legal door closes. Every promise of mercy comes with a price. And the only woman powerful enough to challenge the Order is the one Elowen has been warned never to seek: Isolde Thorne, the immortal mistress of Blackthorn House. Hidden beyond the mist-choked moor, Blackthorn is no ordinary estate. Its corridors shift. Its rooms remember. Its floorboards drink blood. And Isolde-elegant, ruthless, and terrifyingly perceptive-offers Elowen a bargain: one lunar month of service in exchange for a chance to save her sister.
Elowen expects captivity. She does not expect Isolde to need her. The Order has discovered a weapon capable of wounding Blackthorn, and Elowen's knowledge of forbidden medicine may be the only thing standing between the estate and destruction. Forced into an uneasy alliance, healer and immortal descend into hidden markets, buried tunnels, blood-soaked secrets, and a conflict far older than either woman's bargain.
But the closer Elowen gets to Isolde, the harder it becomes to pretend fear is the only thing passing between them. Isolde is possessive where Elowen is defiant. Merciless where Elowen insists on restraint. Yet beneath their threats, negotiations, and dangerous attraction lies an uncomfortable recognition: each woman sees the capacity for cruelty in the other-and neither looks away. As the Order tightens its grip and Blackthorn begins responding to Elowen in ways it should not, she must decide what she is truly willing to sacrifice for the people she loves.
Because the greatest danger inside Blackthorn may not be that a monster will steal Elowen's humanity. It may be discovering how much of it she is willing to surrender by choice. When power finally offers Elowen everything goodness never could, will she run from the darkness-or ask it to make room for her?