Syphon Bound

We all want to marry for love. Would you marry for magic?War is brewing in the Lakes. The ambitious Grist Father Glimar adds sparks to the tinder that's been building for centuries. What kind of sparks? Murdering six innocent Handmaids. And since Handmaids are members of the Grist, who would question his accusation that foreign mercenaries are to blame?Millia wants to be a handmaid more than anything. With her father's abdication fast approaching, all she has to look forward to is a marriage and excruciating binding ritual with a cruel lordling. But if she can convince Father Glimar to let her ascend to Handmaid status, she'll never have to worry about marriage prospects again.Alroth is desperate to move his hamlet inside safe town walls before war breaks over them. But the only way to get the necessary coin is to take a job that will haunt him for the rest of his life: kill the Handmaids. When Alroth manages to trap Millia alone, no one can blame him for taking the chance to bind himself a mage.Could Millia be Alroth's key to saving both his hamlet and the Handmaids?Could Alroth be Millia's key to escaping both betrothal and Grist?***Join Millia and Alroth as they accidentally bond, hone their magic skills, spawn a mystical animal guardian, and go on an epic quest to save six mages from a mysterious murder plot.A Bond of Storms and Stitches is a historical fantasy romance Seven Brides for Seven Brothers riff perfect for fans of Milla Vane and Grace Draven.Content notes: explicit sex scenes, injuries, near-death experiences. See Elizabeth F. Shearly's website for detailed content notes. Elizabeth spent 21 years tinkering with a dozen different manuscripts. She finally gave in to the urge to write romance in 2022, and published her first sci fi romance novel, Endless Sea of Stars, in 2023. The denial continued when she thought her second book might not be a romance (it was), but she embraced her romance-writer nature and joined Ottawa Romance Writers in 2024. Now she writes sci fi and fantasy romance with a good bit of spice and super-cool world-building. She's all caught up with some of the most popular romantasy series (team Rhysand in ACOTAR book 1, thank-you), and devours alien, shifter, and orc steamy books with abandon. When she's not watching characters play-act in her head or delving down research rabbit-holes, you can find her relaxing on the couch with her black and orange cats, playing an anime RPG or knitting a sweater for her kid.