Land Mysteries

Lord Geoffrey Carillon wants to do the impossible.

He needs to get an imprisoned alchemist doing key research out of Germany before the world gets even worse. Carillon's cover as a slightly daffy aristocrat will get him where he needs to be, but he can't do this mission alone. He has many magical skills, but not the ones he needs to free his friend.

Alexander is a stranger in his own land.

A skilled and powerful member of the Council, Alexander is responsible for tending the land magic of Albion. However, the Council uses him as their enforcer, adeptly doing terrible and necessary work from the shadows. When Carillon proposes the expedition into Austria and Germany, can Alexander carry off the subterfuge and still keep his hands clean and his inner self barricaded in enemy territory?

Any two professionals can tolerate each other in service of a goal.

That's true even if Carillon has excellent reason to distrust the Council, and Alexander has just as much reason to keep everyone at arm's length. When matters move from possible blackmail into a sought after invitation to a remote schloss, Carillon and Alexander find their lives entangled in ways neither of them had ever dreamed of.

Best Foot Forward takes place in 1935 in the magical communities of Great Britain, Vienna, and Berlin. It is an enemies to "it's complicated" M/M romance full of espionage, magic, extreme competence under pressure, music, and healing from the traumas of the Great War. It also contains an epilogue novella, Intimacies of the Seasons, following Alexander and Carillon through the next year of their lives.

It is the early months of WWII and Rathna already has an idea of how bad it might get. If she can make the final connections she needs to create a new portal in a matter of weeks rather than years, she might just be able to get a few more people out of Germany's ever expanding grasp. But she's also been asked to take on a new apprentice. Rathna has no idea whether he'll be willing to help, if she can trust him, or if he can trust her enough to do what needs to be done. 

Her husband Gabe has a challenge that will use every single one of his skills and then some. He's been charged by the Council to coordinate magical responses to the war, not only in Albion itself, but among the many esoteric and occult groups of Great Britain. His own apprentice is brilliant, in a different way than Gabe, but this project will ask everything of them both. 

Together, Gabe and Rathna have built their lives to bend their passions, talents, and magics to making things better for the world around them, including their three growing children. Now their war work is going to separate them, certainly for months, possibly for much longer. As they tangle with ancient magics, seeking new ways forward, there are more unanswerable questions, tremendous risks, and a few glimmers of hope. 

Old As The Hills follows Gabe and Rathna's adventures from the autumn of 1939 through the summer of 1940, a time of desperate plans to save lives and hold back invasion. It is full of ancient fae magic, the power of place, urgent witchcraft rituals, and unexpected encounters. The Land Mysteries series explores the Second World War in the magical community of Albion and is best read in order. 

When he is asked a question that August, Gabe knows he must answer yes. His answer will change him, his family, and everything around him. There is no other way through but keeping his word and dealing with the consequences. 

No one said he had to do it the way anyone else expects. 

Upon A Summer's Day is a short novel that takes place in the autumn and winter of 1940 as World War II moves into a second year with the start of the Blitz Join Gabe, his wife, his family, and their allies in unweaving a tangle of ancient magics, turning assumptions on their heads, and refusing to follow destructive traditions. The fourth book in the Land Mysteries series, Upon A Summer's Day directly follows the events of Old As The Hills, and is best read in sequence.

Hypatia and Cammie adopted each other as sisters twenty years ago, during their school years, after Cammie's mother married Hypatia's older brother. Cammie has been neck deep in signals work since the start of the Second World War, while Hypatia has used her gift for sympathetic magic and materia to support the war effort. All while keeping up the proper standards for ATS girls, of course. 

Pulled from similar work in Scotland, Claudio knows the most about what's needed and about what resources might actually be available. That's a big problem, but he's far more worried about his chosen brother, Orion.

Orion's war had been comparatively simple until six months ago. After an injury invalided him out of active service using his magic to support the front lines in the Mediterranean, he came home to find betrayal. Now he's figuring out where to begin rebuilding any sense of himself and his place in the world.

None of them have enough information or access to resources for what they're being asked to do. And they're doing it in a camp that has no idea what to make of them and that has its own deep secrets. When the challenges keep coming, they have to figure out whether and how they can trust each other and whether their objective is even possible. 

Illusion of a Boar takes on the run-up to D-Day inside the magical community of Albion, figuring out what magic could help turn the tides in their favour. It's about trust, choosing new paths, and just maybe taking a chance on love and romance. The fifth book in the Land Mysteries series, it can be read in any order. 

No one has been able to figure out what damaged Temple’s magic or why he’d insisted on such self-destructive choices. Lizzie hasn’t, her husband Geoffrey hasn’t, and neither have their friends who are experts in a dozen relevant fields.

Now, as the demands of the war begin to ease, Lizzie asks Alysoun and Thesan - their friends and allies - to help her solve the mystery. She hopes that Alysoun’s clear-sighted experience and Thesan’s ability to see hidden patterns will be enough of a help. Perhaps together they can finally find and make sense of long-hidden information and do their best to make sure this sort of tragedy never happens again.

Three Graces is a novella tackling the long-standing question of what happened to Temple Carillon and brought him to his death in 1922. It is full of intelligent friends supporting each other, the changes that come with the end of the war, and navigating a new world. It is best read in series sequence, as it draws on a number of situations during the Second World War and its impact on Albion.

First, they have to figure out what they want to do and be when they grow up. It's a hard choice to make at fourteen. Next, second year is when Schola’s secret societies pick new members, a decision that can change the course of a life. Third, there are all the ordinary challenges and joys of a school, ranging from dealing with other students to sports matches. Finally, it's 1946, with all the lingering effects of the Second World War, the changes it's brought, and the changes to come.

These four friends come from different backgrounds, sharing some skills but not others. None of them want what society assumes they do. It's a new world and they have some ideas of their own.

The Magic of Four is full of friendship, surprises, commitments, and a great deal of magic. It takes place in the magical community of Great Britain in the wake of the Second World War, from the perspective of young adults who have a good idea what their parents did during the war years and what that cost.

The last book in the Land Mysteries series, The Magic of Four includes a number of characters who have appeared in other Celia Lake books, but can be read in any order. Unlike most Albion books, this is not a romance - after all, they’re all fourteen.