New Castle Mistress (Quinine)
About
When the V Tree bears fruit, someone dies. When it chooses a Mistress, the world trembles.
Urne, a jaded scribe with a talent for surviving terrible assignments, and Oriva, an artista whose forest‑touched soul sees truth in color, arrive on the Little Finger to cover a story no one believes will happen: the rise of a new Castle Mistress.
But when a young believer bites Viscera’s Heart and transforms into Ilsa, the most powerful—and most unpredictable—Mistress in Herstoria, the Neg‑Pos Conflict tilts violently toward darkness. The sky collapses into an impossible Dark Empty, the V Tree shrivels in fear, and the Castle’s savage Pupas fall into ecstatic worship.
Ilsa is beautiful, lethal, and disturbingly joyful. She wants art. She wants a Sun Day feast. And above all, she wants Quinine’s heart.
When Oriva becomes her prized captive and Urne is sent to fetch the Goddess‑born hero, the scribe must navigate dragons, politics, and the Maze‑touched Essentia before Sun Day dawns.
Because if Ilsa gets what she wants, the world will kneel.
If she doesn’t, it will burn.