She, Wolf, Him.

1766. The winter the Beast came down from the mountains.

In a starving French village, a thing hunts in the dark, and it is not a wolf. It takes the shepherds first, then any man who walks home too late, until the snow runs red and the doors stay barred.

Agnès has spent her life folding herself smaller. Promised to a man she cannot love, watched by a priest who weighs the sins of every woman, she has learned to swallow what she feels and say thank you. Only her best friend Margot makes the grey days bearable.

Then a hunter rides in with the King’s word and a showman’s smile. He swears he will kill the Beast and looks at Agnès as no one ever has.

The killing doesn't stop. The village turns on its own, and the woman who wanted nothing begins to want everything. And the wanting, once it wakes, does not care what it costs.

A gothic horror for readers who like desire with teeth and love stories that end in blood. It does not end well. No one walks out of this winter whole.