In 1628, Bess Hawksmith watches her mother hang as a witch and bargains with the warlock Gideon Masters for her life, gaining immortality at a terrible price. Centuries later, living quietly in rural England, she is drawn back into the war between light and dark magic when a teenage girl named Tegan stumbles into her orbit. As Bess reluctantly mentors Tegan in the Craft, she knows Gideon is hunting them both across time.

Elizabeth 'Bess' Hawksmith is three hundred and eighty-four years old, fiercely independent, and scarred by every century she has lived through — plague, war, persecution, and heartbreak. She is a Hedge Witch of formidable power who has learned that survival requires solitude, and love requires courage. Her voice, alternating between historical journal entries and present-day narration, is one of the most distinctive in contemporary historical fantasy.

Across two books, Bess and Tegan's bond deepens from guarded teacher-student into something fierce as a mother's love, even as Gideon's pursuit grows more relentless. The series explores what immortality costs — the grief of outliving everyone, the weight of centuries of memory — and asks whether freedom is possible when your debt can never be fully repaid. The conclusion brings Gideon, Bess, and Tegan into a final, breathless confrontation that spans timelines and demands sacrifice from each of them.