The Winter Oak — James A. Hetley

"Happily ever after" doesn't always work, even in fairy tales. Maureen Pierce has won her castle, her man, and her powers, after terrible suffering in THE SUMMER COUNTRY. She has won a host of fierce enemies as well -- among them, the powerful dark witch Fiona and the deadly black dragon Khe'sha, who plot vengeance. Many of the Old Blood fear the change that she brings to the Summer Country of Celtic myth, and the warrior Pendragons believe that her lover, Brian Albion, has betrayed their secrets.


If that wasn't bad enough, Maureen hates her castle for the pain she suffered there. She fears her new-found powers. The ghosts of old trauma still haunt her and those close to her -- Brian, her sister Jo, and Jo's lover, the human bard David.


Against that, Maureen has the love of the Wildwood, the tangled, dangerous, above all magical forest surrounding the castle she won. She and those with her have honor -- a strange and rare and powerful concept in the Summer Country.


Holding her place turns out to be as hard as winning it, and she's going to need help.


Sometimes, that can come from where it's least expected.