Lesbian literary fantasy reaches an earth-shaking climax in the character-driven sixth book of the Eirenic Verses series.Cerie Korviridi has spent her entire life learning High Poetry, a rare skill that assists her impoverished nation in countering endless warfare. Worshipping the goddess of poets is all she has ever known – that and her hatred for the enemy. Her worst nightmare comes true when she is kidnapped by her nation's eternal rival, a queendom seeking High Poetry to colonize her homeland. Choosing to submit to the royal family's demands rather than be thrown to wild dogs, Cerie assists while planning her own counterstrike. When the headstrong princess, Haniya Aina, learns that Cerie will help her country win the eternal war by unleashing poetry at the border, she joins the quest in hopes of wooing the hard-hearted foreigner and escaping the drudgery of palace life. Cerie attempts to ignore her growing attraction to her lifelong enemy's emissary, but she's powerless against Haniya's fiery personality.Besieged by soldiers on both sides, the sarcastic High Poet and the feisty princess grow closer through their travels, but they struggle with fragmenting loyalty to their respective homelands. Cerie's newfound understanding of the similarities between the embattled nations emboldens her to find a satisficing solution that will protect both countries. The only way to bring bilateral security is to terrify everyone with earth-shattering High Poetry, shaking both countries down to the bones.With lush prose reminiscent of Freya Marsk or This Is How You Lose the Time War, this epic enemies-to-lovers sapphic fantasy features intergenerational grudges, a strong female protagonist, and dozens of original poems carefully interwoven into the text.
