There’s always one in every tale—a wizard in the woods. A figure cloaked in rumor, layered in mystery, and just dangerous enough to make you wonder if the stories are true. In Faeries Don’t Hide, that figure is Q’thonos.
And no, he does not appreciate being interrupted.
Q’thonos lives deep in the southern stretch of the Pardonway Forest, where the trees lean in to listen and the wind hums with spells older than memory. The forest itself is spelled—to rip apart anyone who carries disloyalty to the Tamorian queen. Or at least… it was.
Lately, travelers whisper that the magic’s begun to slip. That some have made it through who shouldn’t have.
Still… it’s no place to take refuge—but Aunia and Mathias have no choice. Hunted. Haunted. Desperate.
Q’thonos’ cottage waits there like something grown rather than built—half limestone, half dark-wood timber, patched with moss, spells, and a suspiciously lumpy rug that might be breathing. Books sag under the weight of forgotten magic. Iron charms clink in the rafters. The air smells of salt, scorched herbs, and candlewax that’s never quite gone out.
To strangers, he’s a querulous old man, squinting through odd spectacles, one side glass and the other a strange hagstone lens. What’s a hagstone? That would be a flat, river-smoothed pebble with a naturally worn hole in the center and it’s used to see faeries.
To those who glimpse past Q’thonos’ disguise, he is something else entirely.
Lean. Watchful. Almost handsome, in a way that doesn’t invite comfort.
A mind wired for patterns. A temper wired for results.
Q’thonos is not kind. He is not safe. However, he might be the only one who understands what’s happening with the Chandarion relics—and what’s breaking between the faery and mortal worlds.
If you love grumpy mentor types, magical experiments gone sideways, and the uneasy tension between knowledge and ethics—you’re going to love Q’thonos.
Or at least… try to survive him.
✨ Want to meet him?
Q’thonos appears in Faeries Don’t Hide, Book 3 in the Heart of the Worlds series, releasing this November. The forest is shifting. The relics are awakening. And nothing in the Betwixt will stay buried for long.
This book, third in the Heart of the Worlds series is available on ebook pre-order.
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