PRINCE BEYOND THE FROST: 1

When a strange pulse rolls in from the Devil's Punch Bowl on an ordinary Tuesday morning, Natchez herbalist Celeste "Celi" Dupree knows her day has stopped being ordinary. What she does not expect is a man browsing her dried sage bundles in full invisibility. Prince Kofi Adaran comes from Aethon - a thriving civilization hidden beyond the ice wall, built on preserved African science and three thousand years of cultural memory the surface world believes lost. His cloaking technology has never failed. Until Celi locks the front door, crosses her arms, and says: "Baby, I can see you. Put my sage down." As the portal grows unstable and forces from Aethon arrive to retrieve their prince, Celi discovers her ancestral gift sits at the center of the crisis - and her bond to Aethon runs deeper than anyone knew. Rooted in Southern Black folklore and lit with warm humor, this is love that begins the only way it lasts - with being truly seen.