Lutesong

An anxious bard with a talking lute-what could go wrong?Struggling bard Emry Karic has only one path home: impress the Auric Guild, join the ranks of the elite musicians therein, and return to his family with his honor in hand.Just before the biggest performance of Emry's life, a talkative forest spirit named Aspen traps themself in his lute. Emry swears the spirit to silence on stage, in exchange for a favor-he will help Aspen investigate the magical earthquake that forced them into the instrument.But Emry is a bard, not a scholar, and their research leads them straight to the person who resents him the most: Cal Breslin, his academia-entrenched ex-girlfriend. As they delve into the forgotten mythology of spirits and gods, they uncover a much greater threat looming beneath the surface-one that throws his family's ultimatum into conflict with their very survival.The Stray Spirit is a low-fantasy novel with a riff of romance, a light-hearted lilt, and as much heart as can possibly fit inside a lute.

When a bard saved the day, he never expected an encore. After saving their home from a magical disaster, Emry, Cal, and forest spirit Aspen ascend to high society: Emry and Aspen to the illustrious musicians' guild, and Cal to the cutting edge of spirit research. But their new roles send them far beyond the concerts and balls they expected...and deep into a city of dying spirits. In the neighboring city of Matlock, a strange blight has withered their gardens-and the spirits living within. The trio rushes to investigate, whirling into Matlock's social season in search of allies and gossip. Here, Emry frantically navigates the dazzle and decorum to seek information, start his debut...and propose to Cal. But when the glittering chandeliers illuminate more enemies than friends, Emry, Cal, and Aspen must race to stop the blight before it spreads, and the spirits shrivel away for good.

The spirits have awoken-and can never sleep again. After being roused to defend against a magical disaster, the nature spirits of Thalis have begun to leave their groves and mingle with humans. Eager to welcome their verdant new friends, Emry, Cal, and Aspen take center stage once more: they throw the country's first spirit festival. Music and merriment abound-but when an angry lynx attacks Aspen onstage, demanding to know how to go back to sleep in his grove, Emry realizes that not every spirit wants this new life…and he has no idea how to return them to their old one.The trio and their allies venture into an old-growth forest, seeking answers from Yarrow, the country's oldest spirit. But Yarrow has grown treacherous-instead of helping them, it traps them in Raven's Rest, a stubborn little village fighting for its place in the forest.As Yarrow's malice grows and the spirits question their place in the world, Emry, Cal, and Aspen must join forces with the village to subdue Yarrow-even if it means destroying the very answers they seek.