The Drowned Cane Kingdom
Amélia Pierre trusted science, not superstition. Returning to her ancestral home on the island of Mauritius, the marine biologist expects to study coral reefs, not confront a family legacy woven from colonial sin and elemental magic. But the lagoon at Trou Fanal holds a listening silence, the cane fields whisper with trapped spirits, and a phantom drumming pulses in time with a sigil burning itself into her skin. Haunted by a pale figure in the water and guided by the grim warnings in her grandmother's journal, Amélia discovers she is the last in a line of Keepers-not guardians of the island, but jailers of a terrible, ancient bargain. To prevent the island from tearing itself apart in a war between a vengeful Sea Queen and a furious Cane Witch, she must embrace the power in her blood and become the bridge between two warring worlds. But the price for peace may be her own humanity, as she is transformed into the living, breathing conscience of the island itself.