Clémence Voyer’s one and only priority is Alain, ols five-year-old brother. Ol had been ready to kill countless witches to keep him safe. Montrant Industries’ crimes have been exposed, and now freed from Montrant Industries’ clutches
and under witness protection, Clémence has a rare opportunity to give the boy a sense of normalcy and indulge his bird obsession.
The city of Val-de-mer is left with one obvious problem, however: over a thousand witches trapped in exocores need to be transferred safely into new bodies, and ols involvement in the creation of exocores is not so easily forgotten—not by the lovely Emmanuelle Duclos, the scientist in charge of devising a safe exocore transfer, not by the witch community ol betrayed, and not by Montrant Industries, who needs ol dead to protect itself.
Mired in the middle of the exocore restoration project, Clémence is forced to face the people ol harmed. Ol will need to learn to trust again, and to figure out what it means to be accountable if ol wants to move forward, and finally be able to give Alain the idyllic life he deserves.
Representation of note
Clémence: Agender, aromantic (quoiromantic), asexual
Emmanuelle: Fat demiromantic, demisexual cis woman
Livia: Questionning demigirl and gray-aromantic, gray-ace
content notes
Genocide, Descriptive violence, gunshots, magical coercion, internalized arophobia, child neglect (mention), gambling addiction (mention), suicide (mention) and brief suicide ideation on page.
Tropes & Elements
Enemies Working Together, Found Family
Single Parent, Six Precious Kitties
OTHER INFORMATION
Genre/Age Category: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Fiction
Publisher: The Kraken Collective
Publication Date: June 26, 2025
Cover Artist: Laya Rose
ISBN-13 (paperback): 978-1-0692516-2-6
FAQ
Can I read this book if I haven’t read Baker Thief?
Yes! The book will give you all the context you need. You will be spoiled about the events of Baker Thief, however, and meet some of its characters throughout. I believe they’re best read in order but work well independantly.
What’s up with Clémence’s pronouns? I’ve never seen “ol/ol” before.
That’s not surprising! “Ol” is, in fact, a French neopronoun, just as “iel” is. There are non-binary francophone people who did not want their pronouns to be a mix of “il” and “elle” (he and she, respectively), which “iel” is, and so they created another one. I wanted that to be reflected in Val-de-mer, and “ol” was easy to anglicize into “ol/ol/olself”. Did I anticipate writing an entire book with Clémence as an MC at the time? Nope! Do I have regrets? Not really.