Deadly Blossoms #957049

Lutra Otter's world is on the brink of collapse. The man she loves abandons her, unable to accept her black skin and the burden of a life that is anything but "normal." Wounded and desperate, she turns to the memories of her grandmother and to an ancient book of rituals. On the banks of the river, beneath the pale light of the moon and surrounded by aconite-the flower that kills-she calls upon a dark power. It answers with a blood pact: death in exchange for white skin and a beauty beyond compare. Transformed and unrecognizable, Lutra opens Otter's Cottage, an elegant retreat for women alone on the banks of the River Severn. Amid the scents of cinnamon and vanilla, she welcomes her guests with flawless grace. Yet behind that gentleness lies a deadly ritual: every fragrant bath is a slow and agonizing sentence. The system seems perfect-until a young guest escapes her fate. Surviving the poisoned soap, the girl shatters the infernal pact upon which Lutra has built her revenge. Hawk, a police officer and the survivor's husband, resolves to confront the witch in her lair.