Festival season in Wilkins was supposed to be simple: lanterns, cider, and the kind of small-town magic no one named out loud. For Meredith Avery, it started with a proposal she didn’t ask for and a curse she couldn’t outrun.

When Dashel Channing returns to town, Meredith’s Avery ward ignites like it’s been waiting for him. Accidents turn into attacks. Bad luck clings to Channing until his hands blacken, his body breaks, and the whole town decides he’s the problem. Meanwhile Mark, the man everyone trusts, becomes the hero in every disaster… and the calm Meredith can’t deny.

But Meredith’s body knows what her mind keeps trying to bury: love can be weaponized. Bonds can be twisted. And the curse doesn’t just want blood, it wants silence.

As fires erupt across Wilkins and ghosts begin whispering in mirrors, Meredith is forced to choose between the safety everyone celebrates and the truth that could burn the town to the ground. Because if she’s wrong, Channing dies. If she stays quiet, she does.

And if she tells the truth, she’ll have to face what was taken from her years ago… and what the Avery women have been bound to for centuries.

A dark, emotional small-town paranormal romance packed with high-stakes magic, secrets, obsession, and a love worth fighting for.