Secrets of Water and Willow

Once, Tarcienne was united under the rule of the Rose Queen. But that was before the Rift. Before the magic disappeared...

Orphaned Calixta has spent her entire life as an indentured servant to the heartless Countess of Vauvillers. After she discovers her mother's journal and a few seeds inside, she takes the chance to plant them, hoping for a connection to her long-lost parent. When they instantly grow into a forty foot tall weeping willow, she gets more than she bargained for. Maybe she shouldn't have planted it in a public park…

As the Alaincourt heir, Martel knows his duty to the dukedom comes first. That means supporting his mother's political alliances, sitting attentively in endless council meetings, and not smothering his annoying younger brothers. It also means heading out in the middle of the night when a rumor of impossible plant magic reaches the palace…

Calixta never intended to grow a tree overnight. She never intended to attract the attention of Lord Martel, or reawaken the realm's magic affinities, or become an apprentice to the duchess's oldest, grumpiest, and most mysterious lady-in-waiting either. But while the secrets of the Everlasting Rose Queen and the Reign of the Roses are starting to unravel, Calixta and Martel find their new magic—and their hearts—more and more tangled together…

Secrets of Water and Willow is a Cinderella retelling—if Cinderella rediscovered elemental magic before she went to the ball, if the fairy godmother was more cranky than kind, and if the prince was a ducal heir with magic of his own.