Hiyodori writer
Stories
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Masks Worn by Magical Wives by Hiyodori "Look humble. Look bashful. Look harmless." Masks Worn by Magical Wives is a slow-burn f/f romance packed with secret identities and surreal magic. The story unfolds in a unique contemporary fantasy setting: a twisted yet beautiful realm where kings slowly turn amphibious and snake-worshipping nuns lurk in colossal caverns. Nemesia is one such nun. Chosen by an eldritch god, she spends most of her life underground, but her sect sends her on occasional pilgrimages to work in the land above. This time, in her mid-thirties, she gets hired to snoop on a mage named Eden... by going undercover as Eden's wife. In a world of cold and unsociable mages, Eden alone is the opposite: both powerful and well-loved. Perhaps too well-loved—she's left behind a long string of angry paramours. The exasperated king of the land orders her to settle the issue by taking a spouse. Despite her friendly facade, Eden would rather marry a stranger than someone who adores her. Nemesia (who has spent decades living devoutly in a hole) is the perfect candidate. Eden welcomes her new bride with warmth and generosity. But one of her oldest enemies ordered Nemesia to accept her offer, and it's only a matter of time till she finds out. Their marriage of convenience feels strangely comfortable, even with multiple layers of mutual deception. Yet as the seasons turn, Eden begins to lose control over her magic, and Nemesia begins to lose sight of her mission. Secrets unlock deeper secrets as tentative, unwished-for emotions spill over into a relationship that was never supposed to mean anything at all. This standalone fantasy novel has loose connections to the author's other work, but can be read and enjoyed without any prior knowledge. |
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No One Else Could Heal Her by Hiyodori “I want to see you cry. I want to see you destroyed.” No One Else Could Heal Her (a standalone prequel to the Clem & Wist series) marks the contentious beginning of a lifelong f/f romance. Their slow-burn relationship deepens in a stratified magical academy packed with rules designed to keep them apart. They’re opposites in every way. Their feelings for each other are stifled, unfamiliar, charged with resentment. And impossible to deny. In this modern-era fantasy world, mages get all the magic and glory. Mages run the nation. Healers shuffle around in their shadow. Clematis is a talented healer. That’s what traps her at a prestigious boarding school for high-class mages and the healers being trained to serve them. Her only goal: keep her head down. Pretend to be mediocre. Avoid catching the interest of any mages whatsoever. Tall, dark-haired Wist is a quiet loner, despite being the strongest mage student in the entire academy. She seems just as determined as Clematis to cover up her true gifts. Yet every once in a while, she cracks and shows more glimpses of her power. For some reason, those moments usually have something to do with Clematis. Clematis can’t begin to understand why a top-tier mage would try to avoid the spotlight. The sheer infuriating mystery of Wist keeps dragging her in closer. Even if they're supposed to be enemies. Even if it means making herself a target for envious classmates. Even if every step she takes toward Wist puts her at risk of expulsion. Once Clematis would’ve been thrilled to escape the academy. Now—confronted with a cold, secretive, long-suffering mage unlike any other—she finds herself scrambling for excuses to stay. |
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“Now reach back,” she said, “and tear off your wings.” Carrion Saints is a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance between an immortal saint and a severed head. Crow can pass for human. She may come off as eccentric, but she’s good at hiding her wings. As a saint, she’s devoted her endless life to protecting humanity from other immortals: the ones they call monsters. She’s finally ready to take on the worst monster of all, a great evil sealed at the edge of civilization. Magnolia is the worst monster of all. A villain who amuses herself by preying on valiant heroes. At first glance, she looks powerless. She looks, in fact, like a decapitated head (a very chatty one). But her magic lets her issue absolute commands to humans and immortals alike. She’s been waiting centuries for a challenger powerful enough to break the seal binding her in the wilderness. In other words, she’s been waiting centuries to magically seize control over someone like Crow. Crow has always been patient and forgiving. Sadistic, remorseless Magnolia awakens new depths of loathing in her—a hatred of frightening intensity. And now, she's forced to use her full power to grant Magnolia’s one heartfelt wish: to see the rest of the world. To make up for all the years she spent trapped alone with only trees for company. What follows is an ultra slow-burn romance between true enemies. Between good and evil. Between a winged woman and a talkative severed head (who occasionally sprouts the rest of her body, just to keep things lively). They travel together across a post-apocalyptic landscape marked by strange magic and scattered human settlements. Yet the apocalypse happened a long time ago, and eons will pass before their gradually fading world dies for good. In the meantime, these immortals are stuck with each other. Even a saint and a monstrous villain might eventually fall in love—but the path there will be dark, crooked, and sometimes surprisingly cozy. This standalone fantasy novel can be read without prior knowledge of the author’s other work. |
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The Forest at the Heart of Her Mage by Hiyodori After years of city life, Tiller is finally ready to revisit the magical forest where she grew up. But the forest has turned deadly, and Tiller has no magic of her own. To survive, she’ll need a bodyguard. Tiller finds only one mage willing to escort her. A woman named Carnelian: a soldier with a pretty face and a dodgy reputation. Carnelian loves parties, drinking, flirting, big spending, and taking risks that others would find downright unthinkable. She’ll happily lead Tiller to the heart of the Devouring Forest. But she won't do it for free. The two of them live in a country where magic-users like Carnelian labor under lifelong legal restrictions. The fastest ticket to greater liberty: getting married. Which is why Carnelian—known far and wide as the mage who no one would wed—demands Tiller’s hand in marriage as her payment. Cautious, reserved Tiller never lets strangers invade her personal space. She's horrified by the prospect of marrying a mischievous gambler. But she still needs Carnelian’s magic to overcome the wild monsters blocking the path back to her childhood home. And the deeper they go in the forest, the greater the danger. Tiller will have to learn very quickly how to deal with the darker side of her would-be wife. The Forest at the Heart of Her Mage is a slow-burn f/f romance with two polar-opposite heroines—both hiding enormous secrets—reluctantly engaged to be married for the sake of convenience. This novel takes place in the same contemporary fantasy world as The First and Last Demon and the Clem & Wist series, but can be read and enjoyed as a standalone story. |
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The First and Last Demon by Hiyodori Meet Char: a once-renowned human warrior, trapped in an abandoned city with a demon who hates her. A demon who woke her from a fifty-year magical slumber specifically for the sake of tormenting her. The demon’s name: Vesper. She and Char go a long, long way back. They used to be partners on the battlefield. National heroes. An unbeatable team bonded by magic. That bond was supposed to last for the rest of their lives. Now Char’s memory is full of holes. The sealed city is full of hostile magical beasts. And Vesper, with her sharp teeth and unpredictable moods, is the most vicious of them all. As an ageless demon, she’s fully prepared to keep holding Char captive forever. Char struggles to unravel the mystery of why they've ended up pitted against each other, locked in a private war that seems certain to end with one or both of them dead. Does Vesper’s senseless cruelty stem from simple demonic bloodlust? From years of suppressed loathing? What else could have driven her past the breaking point—compelled her to suddenly snap and betray her own bondmate? To uncover the truth, Char will have to face her demon as she would any other deadly monster: as an enemy of humanity, the most formidable and vindictive foe she's ever encountered. The First and Last Demon is a dark f/f enemies to lovers story with a heavy emphasis on the enmity—but an indelible slow-burning love at its core. Although it's set in the same contemporary fantasy world as the Clem & Wist series, this novel can be fully enjoyed as a standalone tale. |
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The Lowest Healer and the Highest Mage by Hiyodori “I never forgot the sound of you calling for me. Not for a second.” The Lowest Healer and the Highest Mage is a slow-burn f/f romance set in an original modern-era fantasy world, featuring a magical tower with countless curious rooms. It’s a story of friends to enemies to reluctant allies, guilty secrets, love mixed inextricably with hate, fragile second chances, and the true price of boundless magical power. In a country where mages have all the power and healers supposedly only exist to support them, Clematis—a talented healer—is despised for her past attempts to defy the mageocracy. In her early thirties, she’s already on year seven of a life sentence for treason. But when the most powerful mage in the nation suddenly loses all her magic, the government wants unconventional Clematis to help get it back. The mage is a tall, distant woman called Wist, and Clematis knows her all too well. They used to be classmates. Best friends. Perhaps more. Wist is also the person who reported Clematis for leaking state secrets. She’s the reason Clematis spent the last seven years in prison. Clematis wants revenge for her betrayal, but she wants freedom even more. She’s got thirty days to recover Wist’s magic: miss the deadline, and she’ll be shunted back to prison for the rest of her life. Yet attempting to resurrect Wist’s lost magic will force her to face the real reason why Wist betrayed her—and to face her unresolved, unspoken feelings for the mage who stabbed her in the back and walked away. |