Beware the forest - that way monsters lie.

In Republica Helvetorum, magic is dangerous. When Elsing Wylder is accused of murder by witchcraft, she's sentenced to a fate worse than death: being sacrificed to the Mountain Gods, the brutal monsters who have terrorized Elsing's home for centuries.

Every solstice, one human is sacrificed to the Mountain Gods and in exchange, the Gods leave the town of Interlaken alone, staying within the borders of their Mountain Realm. Expecting to die, Elsing is shocked when she instead wakes to the Mountain Gods; a giant Dragon, a fierce Griffin, and the enigmatic God of Death. She's even more surprised when she learns that the only torture they have in mind is that of more pleasurable kind.

As Elsing grows closer to her four new companions, the mystery of the mountain begins to unravel and dark truths about Elsing's sacrifice come to light-and what the Mountain Gods don't know, might just kill them.

After all, not all monsters have sharp teeth and claws.

NOTE: This is a MMMFF why-choose gothic romance with dark themes, power dynamics, bloodplay, sharing, sword-crossing (MM), sapphic romance (FF), graphic sex scenes, graphic violence, LBGTQIA+ characters, and genderfluid Gods. For a full list of triggers, please refer to my website and the beginning of the book.