A Dark and Drowning Tide

Lorelei Kaskel, a folklorist with a quick temper and an even quicker wit, is on an expedition with six eccentric nobles in search of a magical spring of untold power. The king wants to harness the spring to secure his reign, and Lorelei is determined to prove herself and to make her dream come true: to become a naturalist, able to travel freely to faraway lands.

The expedition gets off to a harrowing start when its leader—Lorelei’s beloved mentor—is murdered aboard their ship. The suspects are her five remaining expedition mates. The only person Lorelei knows must be innocent is her academic rival, the insufferably gallant and maddeningly beautiful Sylvia von Wolff. Now in charge, Lorelei must find the spring before a coup begins and the murderer strikes again.

But other dangers lurk in the dark: forests that rearrange themselves at night, rivers with slumbering dragons waiting beneath the water, and shapeshifting beasts out for blood. As Lorelei and Sylvia grudgingly work together to uncover the truth—and resist their growing feelings for one another—they discover that their professor had secrets of her own. Secrets that make Lorelei question whether justice is worth pursuing, or if this kingdom is worth saving at all.