Heart of War - Jon-Michael Billingslea

A Dark Fantasy Novel

In a hidden village beyond the kingdom's roads, witches survive by one unbreakable rule:

Never eat the heart of another Witch.

The pact keeps them hidden.
It keeps them safe.
It keeps them human.

When Lina Veylin senses a presence in the forest beyond their perimeter, the fragile balance of the coven begins to crack. Witch hunters with hounds and steel close in. Old rivalries sharpen. And inside the village itself, loyalties begin to shift in ways far more dangerous than any enemy beyond the trees.

Some believe power should be taken when it's offered.
Some believe survival justifies anything.
And some are beginning to wonder whether the rule that saved them twelve years ago is the very thing that will destroy them now.

As tension rises between sisters, parents, and allies, Lina finds herself watching more than the forest. She begins to see fractures in the people she trusts most - fractures that could tear the covenant apart from within.

In a world where magic has consequence, love carries risk, and hunger never truly disappears, breaking the pact may be the only way to survive.

But once a Witch eats a heart...
there is no going back.