Winter's Price

Make noise on purpose. Teach quiet to work. Bring jokes. After a hard winter, the river town of Rowanhame is frayed and forgetful—doors that won't listen, lanterns that hush the wrong warnings, corridors that value "calm" over safety. Enter Elara, a clause-writing fixer with chalk under her nails, and Aedric, a rope-smart warden learning to set control down. Together they take on a job no one recognizes and everyone needs: Hamekeeping—making bells honest, doors opinionated, and quiet useful. What starts with stamped clauses and borrowed chairs becomes a town-wide transformation: a miracle iron gate that answers palms, choirs that move furniture on a rest beat, nettles promoted to "useful stings," and a harbor taught to let alarms ring. Along the way, Elara and Aedric build a found family of broom-wielders, seamstresses, ferrymen, and kids with lemon stamps—then face a season of trials: a spring flood, a storm-mean harbor, and visiting officials who want to carpet over common sense. As the work deepens, so does the slow-burn romance between chalk and rope—two people learning to ask "stay" and mean it. And when the town finally earns its name, Elara and Aedric must decide what they're willing to break—and remake—to keep it. Perfect for fans of Legends & Lattes, The Goblin Emperor, Emily Wilde—cozy fantasy with teeth, competence, found family, and witty, nonviolent (mostly) problem-solving. Series: Book I of The Iron Gate Cycle (Book II: Autumn's Due).