Ava is a burnt-out witch. Kal is a self-loathing minotaur. Neither thinks they deserve it, but they just might heal each other. 

As a child, Ava was a prodigious witch. Now, almost thirty, she barely leaves bed. When her mother sends her to her late great-aunt’s manor with an ultimatum to pass an impossible magic exam (and make her mother rich again) or be disowned, Ava would rather let the void take her. Until a howl rises from the hedge maze. 

Kal longs to be the monster everyone expects, not the poetry-loving minotaur he is. Cursed and bound to the grounds after a failed theft, he’s ready to claim his freedom. Even if that means killing the manor’s new resident. When he bursts into the dining room, he doesn’t expect to be offered tea. 

Ava doesn’t expect the manor’s minotaur to blush and apologize when he learns only powerful magic can dispel his curse. Magic that flickers within Ava again as she tries to help him. 

But Kal’s mating season looms, and the last thing he needs is a pretty witch who smiles and compliments his taste in literature. He swears he won’t give into his instincts and claim Ava. Even if she wants him, too.