What do you get when you merge historical fiction and dark fantasy with slow-burn romance? Byrdfyre Covenant is here.

Jörð forgive and protect my little Byrd, should she cling to the earth…

My mother died on the same day my father went mad.

He tried to kill me. With his bare hands, he gripped my throat, stole my breath, meant to tear me from the world.

I survived, but I changed.

That was the beginning of the plague that devoured us.

I will be its ending.

I am Astrid, my mother's first child, promised to an odious priest and surrounded by brothers who love me to varying degrees, and I know how to save us, but no one will listen ...

No one but him.

He is mysterious foreigner, Will Green. Kind, intelligent, but strangely changeable, he stands by my side when others won't, whispers in my ear as we bury our dead, who are mounting up by the day, by the very minute. He tempts me with ideas about what we owe one another. I trust him, because Will Green is good and I believe in good, and in sacrifice, even in myself. And we do need to act ... but sometimes his eyes burn with a strange flame, and I'm not sure he isn't more than he seems.

Fire destroys, but it also tempers. It makes things strong. If I can harness it, and if I am careful, it may be our salvation.

Byrdfyre Covenant is about desperation and loss, unbreakable bonds and old Gods, and a young woman locked into a deal with a dark stranger that stole her humanity and chained her to him for eternity. This is a series starter that will stay with you. Expect heart-pounding action, dark horror and real-history elements, twists and turns you won't expect, and a chilling and heart-rending cliffhanger ending ... because there's always more to the story.

Jayne Starwing is a new pen name for seasoned author Olivia M. Jacques (Women's Fiction, The Madisons), who is also the co-author of The Lightbringers series (Fantasy Romance). Byrdfyre Covenant merges Literary Historical Fiction and Dark Fantasy and will appeal to fans of V.E. Schwab (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil), Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler’s Wife) and Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass).

Trigger Warnings: As this novel is set around the time of the Black Death's arrival in Norway in 1349, there is a significant amount of death and gore, including child death. The text also contains violence against women and misogyny, religious trauma, self-flagellation, murder and violence, and survivalist themes, including potential starvation, hints at future cannibalism, and more. Please read responsibly.