This book is for you if you love…
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Enemies to Lovers
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Forced Proximity
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Slow Burn
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Blood Oaths & Dark Magic
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Morally Grey Women
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Sapphic Romance
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Fae Court Intrigue
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The Betrayal You Didn't See Coming
“She was sent to kill the queen. She never expected to want to save her.”
Sable Ashvine has one mission: infiltrate the Unseelie Thorn Court and prepare the ground for Queen Lyrea's elimination. She has spent a decade becoming the Conclave's most capable operative — trusted to feel nothing she cannot afford.
The Thorn Court is nothing like her briefing. The queen rules by fear, she was told. What Sable finds instead is a woman who remembers every commoner's name, who reads alone in the palace library, and who looks at Sable with gray eyes that miss nothing.
As the real purpose of her mission comes into focus, Sable understands: the Conclave never sent her to kill Lyrea. They sent her to weaken a woman they want to use as a living weapon. Bound by a blood-oath she cannot break and a growing need she has no words for, Sable faces the only choice that could destroy her: the mission, or the queen.
A slow-burn sapphic dark fae romantasy for readers of Sarah J. Maas and Samantha Shannon.
Content Advisory: Explicit sexual content (sapphic), blood magic, violence, and mature themes. Intended for readers 18+.
Explore the Realm of Valdris
Pronunciation: VAL-driss
Mortal Reaches
Eight city-states unite under the Conclave's governance. Key hubs include the capital Ashford and the port city Velleth.
Seelie Court
Northern forests in eternal golden summer. Ruled by Queen Eiravel from the gleaming Golden Hall.
Thorn Court
The Unseelie fae kingdom of blue-gray twilight. A palace made of braided thornwood and crimson flowers.
Thornweaving
Thorn Network
All magic draws from a vast, underground web of roots beneath the territory. Predating history, it is accessible only through physical contact with living thornwood, soil, or bark.
Thorn-Mark
Fae are extensions of the network; magic flows like blood. Significant workings cause thorns to grow through the skin, leaving permanent scars once extracted.
Cost of Access
Every use draws vital energy. Chronic use leads to 'the consumption'—a progressive condition where the network feeds on the user, eventually consuming them entirely.
Thornweavers
Rare mortal bloodlines can interface with the network using borrowed power. Overload risks a 'burn'—catastrophic nervous system damage and paralysis.
Oaths and Vows
Blood Oaths
Within Valdris, every oath uttered upon thornwood and marked with blood is iron law. To defy a blood-bond is to invite the memories of the thorns. When any being — fae or mortal — makes a genuine, freely-given vow over thornwood, and the vow is sealed with their blood on the thorn, it becomes binding in a physical and metaphysical sense.
Breaking an Oath
Forcing an oath to break — doing the forbidden thing despite the pain — is possible but catastrophic. The severing of a blood-oath releases the stored energy of the vow all at once. Minor oaths: incapacitating pain, days of recovery. Major oaths: potentially fatal.
Binding & Consequences
The oath-giver cannot knowingly act against the terms of their oath. Attempting to do so causes physical pain, escalating in intensity. The person who holds another's oath can call it and invoke the oath to compel the oath-giver to act.
Bonus Materials
- Behind the Scenes | Chapters
- Faction Information
- Realm of Valdris Details
- Historical Lore
- Thorn Court Secrets
- Release Notifications
Join the Thorn Network
Willow Moon
Willow Moon is the architect of the Thorn Network, weaving dark, sapphic romantasy where blood oaths carry weight and magic always demands a price. Known for her atmospheric world-building and morally complex heroines, she crafts stories that dwell in the shadows between duty and desire. Her debut, A Vow of Thorns and Lies, explores the lethal high stakes of the Unseelie court. When she isn't binding souls to the page, she resides in the mist-shrouded reaches of the Northern California coast, dreaming of crowns made of bone and ancient, vengeful forests.
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