The Forest Knows

Verena Embriar has spent centuries keeping her distance from Aurelune.As the kingdom’s only elf, an apothecary who speaks with animals and listens to the old forest beneath her feet, she knows better than to expect kindness from the people who call her Highblood, Briar-Witch, and worse. Her life is safer beyond the river, tucked inside a living grove with an owl too clever for his own dignity, a pine marten with no manners, and enough poisonous plants to discourage most visitors.Then the forest falls silent.The forest’s keeper—the Elderbough—is dead. The king is incapacitated. The prince, accused of murder, is missing. The kingdom is in panic, the forest is closing in, and all eyes turn to the solitary Briar-Witch beyond the river.And the worst part?A bear-shifter is bleeding on her guest room floor, not even trying to hide the royal magic in his blood.Drawn into a court built on polished smiles and buried knives, Verena must untangle a conspiracy that reaches deeper than royal blood. But the forest is no longer waiting patiently at the kingdom’s edge. Roots are tightening. Old magic is stirring. And the more she uncovers, the clearer one truth becomes:The forest remembers every promise.And it knows who broke them. Read more