Zofia was taught the old ways: sweep ash across the threshold, set out bread and salt, never name what wanders. She names him anyway. Winter answers with a pale-eyed stranger who crosses her door as if it were a promise—guest, then guardian, then hunger made handsome. The village mutters; iron glints. At the river's edge, the reed-women hiss that ash binds tighter than prayer. In the bone-crone's hut, a knife of flint and ash waits to sever his shadow.

Between fire and snow, Zofia must choose the law of the hearth or the mercy of the blade—unmake what she called, or welcome it and feed it with her own blood. He learns to kneel to her "no." She learns that love is appetite with a vow. Ash becomes not a fence but a line of welcome, and the door remembers every word.

A complete romance. Can be read as a standalone.

Sign up now to get the most out of Books2Read

Discover something great at Books2Read.

Thanks for signing up for Books2Read notifications!