Gifts of the Fae

For shy sheep shifter Mary Strudwick, life in the country is anything but glamorous. When her father returns with a new wife and stepdaughter in tow, Mary's only thought is to make them comfortable in the manor house. She had little idea of following her father on his diplomatic travels to make peace in the wake of Bonaparte. On their travels, Mary meets a High Fae in hiding. Carwyn Ellender, a fae lord fostered to auroch shifter peasants, sees in Mary a woman who might love him. Everyone knows the fae are incapable of love, but more than anything, they seek their heart's delight, a mortal who will love them without being loved in return. Carwyn pursues Mary, protecting her first from her fated mate and then from the Viennese society. At first, all seems well until Napoleon's escape from Elba triggers chaos, and a flight from the continent to England, and finally to America. When Mary's family falls apart, can she trust Carwyn to hold her life together against the odds, against the war, and against her own conscience? This is a retelling of The Twelve Months, an old Czech fairytale, set in Regency times.