Like Wind on a Dry Branch

In a land of magical spirits and northern lights, two wounded souls find rest and healing in each other.

Rieta Tristi has known nothing but hardship: her husband died of the plague, her young daughter was stolen away by slave traders, and now the cruel Lord Casarius, who had long coveted Rieta as a mistress, has ordered on his deathbed that she be buried alive with him. Her heart already shattered by grief, Rieta has little will to resist her grim fate—until the womanizing tyrant of the north, Archduke Killian Axias, suddenly appears and whisks her away. To Rieta's surprise, the cold and ruthless archduke turns out to be not only sympathetic, but deeply thoughtful and caring. As the leaves change and temperatures drop, Rieta warms up to her unexpected savior, who has been grieving a loss of his own.