Josephine doesn’t trust authority, particularly that of the immortal kith. They’re devious, cruel, and as far as she’s concerned, they deserve the curse that’s plagued their kingdom with mists and monsters. So when the High Lord visits Josephine’s village, looking for an enchanted coat—a coat she discovers buried beneath the floorboards of her home—she’s unwilling to hand it over. She wants answers the High Lord won’t give. When he threatens her family, she flees with the coat to protect them, accidentally stumbling into the cursed kith kingdom itself, and into the hands of a mysterious stranger.

The kith prince, Alder, has been imprisoned for two years, and only just escaped. He wants nothing more than to return home, but he’s a disgraced prodigal, and to show his face in the Weald Court again, he must earn back the queen’s trust. When he overhears the High Lord speaking of an enchanted coat that contains the very light stolen from their lands, he knows it’s his chance for atonement. But obtaining the coat from the mortal girl is proving more difficult than anticipated. She’s the only one who can touch it, but journeying with her could expose secrets he wants to keep hidden.

With the High Lord in pursuit, Josephine and Alder must work together, and the more Josephine learns about the coat, the more she questions everything she’s ever believed about her heritage, and the kith. Meanwhile, the curse is spreading into mortal lands, and if they don’t uncover how to release the coat’s power soon, there will be nothing left of either kith or mortal worlds.

THE ARROW AND THE ALDER is an upper young adult closed-door romantic fantasy. This enemies-to-lovers tale features a feisty, rebel huntress, a fugitive prince, and a curse that might consume their worlds.