The Beautiful Serpent

Sensitive, soft-spoken Laurel Aleandri wakes at age eight to discover the world around her has changed-deepened. The rug under her feet feels softer, her father's freshly-baked bread steams with joy, and his hymns carry a life of their own. A descendent of the Damica-women both praised and feared for their gifts-Laurel's power is unlike her mother's. Instead of reading fortunes, she feels into hearts and minds with a light brush of her fingertips.

As is the tradition of the Damica, she is whisked away to the Accademia Marl, only to be swallowed by a darker side of her gift. Litha, her headmistress calls it-a madness that sweeps through the Damica with her empathic ability. Shuttered away, devoid of warmth and light, Laurel finds herself enraptured by flowers and drawn to the moon. . . gentle, beautiful things that keep the darkness within from stirring.

But thrust into a world of politics and deceit, Laurel's headmistress warns that deep empathy is more dangerous and valuable than she knows. She is sold to a general as a bride-and a weapon that could reverse the tides of her kingdom's war, which sits on a knife's edge of defeat.

Pressed like a flower between the pages of fate and chance, Laurel flees, placing her faith in a shattered swordsman with a quick blade and a biting cynicism, while the general she runs from pursues her relentlessly. Haunted by shadow demons, violent visions, and omens of death, Laurel must chance her dark depths to determine not only her own fate, but that of every person she encounters.

Fate and chance. Balance and adjustment. Empathy and madness. Is it better to live in chains-or to embrace the shadows?