Fifty Paces of Winter
Book One of The Binding Wars

On the night the Binding Moon rises, seventeen-year-old Liora Juniper is taken. Thorn-masked riders carry her beyond the river and into the Regent's quiet grasp, where vows become chains and a life-thread can be used like a leash. The court calls it protection; Liora calls it a cage.

Orders send Caelan, the Warhound captain, to bring her back. His unit moves like winter across the roads; his presence unsettles courtiers who prefer their battles in silk. Mira and the sprite-scout Kettle refuse to wait for news; with a practical human smith who knows iron thresholds, they mount a rescue of their own.

Trapped between a ruler's patience and a soldier's discipline, Liora turns every rule she knows into a key. Refusal magic, hidden clauses, and a vow she will not surrender become her weapons. A pull flares where she least expects it; forced proximity turns distance into heat; trust becomes the hardest step.

If she fails, her family's charter falls, the Tithe Bride law wakes, and the Regent's crown of thorns tightens over the fae courts. If she chooses well, winter will carry a different song.

A romantic fantasy for readers 12–18: fae courts, clean slow burn, forced proximity, age-gap tension, rescue against the odds, found family, life-threads, peril without gore.
Reading order: Prequel, then Fifty Paces of Winter.