The Traiteur and the Soldier

Whiskey River Sanctuary Some secrets are buried in the mud. Others are carried in the blood. Lisette Landrieu thought she knew the price of her heritage. Born into a long line of traiteurs—the legendary faith healers of the Atchafalaya Basin—she is a woman caught between two worlds: the modern pulse of Lafayette and the ancient, moss-draped whispers of the deep bayou. But the "gift" is a heavy burden, a fever in the palms that demands she heal the broken, even at the cost of her own soul. Anchor is a man made of iron and ghosts. A Vietnam veteran drifting across the country to outrun the echoes of mortar fire, he seeks the wide-open silence of Montana. Instead, he finds himself pulled into the humid embrace of the Whiskey River, where a chance encounter with a beautiful healer changes everything. When Anchor collapses under the weight of a past he can't escape, Lisette performs an act of healing that braids their spirits together forever. But as their bond deepens, the foundations of the bayou begin to shift. The arrival of the "Soldier" stirs the resentment of a community protective of its saints, and the sudden death of Lisette's matriarchal aunt unearths a scandalous truth: the man Lisette calls her godfather, the Creole king Noah Lescat, is actually the father she never knew. Now, with a sacred lineage to protect and a secret that could shatter the sanctuary, Lisette and Anchor must forge a new law in the swamp. Surrounded by the "Shadow-People" and the judgmental eyes of the Parish, they must decide if they are willing to pay the ultimate price for a love born of Iron and Prayer.