Erica Vaughn Vaughn 
The Hearthkeepers of Morningvale [EPUB ebook] 
A Curse of Whispers and Warmth

In the valley of Morningvale, spring reigns eternal, warmed by the magic woven into the Hearthkeepers’ quilts.  But an encroaching frost whispers of a broken pact, a forgotten curse, and the valley’s fading magic.  Young Maren Kindling, who finds solace not in needle and thread but in the company of mischievous, sunset-hued wyrms, holds the key to Morningvale’s survival.  She alone understands the wyrms’ melodic hums, their playful nips, their growing unease.
A chill wind blows, the quilts’ vibrant hues fade, and the wyrms’ once-joyful dances become sluggish. The frost creeping down from the Frosted Peaks is no natural phenomenon, but the icy sorrow of a heartbroken Hearthkeeper’s ancient curse.  Elara Holloway, an elder Hearthkeeper haunted by her family’s connection to this curse, takes Maren under her wing.  Their guide into this chilling mystery is Flicker, a sock-stealing, dry-witted fox spirit with a reluctant grasp on Morningvale’s forgotten magic.  Accompanying them are Thomas, a quiet boy who deciphers ancient runes, and Lily, a spirited girl whose music resonates with the wyrms, soothing their growing unease.
Their quest leads them through whispering ice caves and across treacherous frost bridges, to the heart of the mystery hidden within the wyrms’ steaming hot springs.  They uncover a broken pact, a tale of forbidden love, and a truth that chills them to the bone: the encroaching frost isn’t an external threat, but the restrained power of a curse meant to preserve the valley by freezing its very heart.
Maren, a descendant of the first wyrm whisperer, must choose between restoring the old ways, risking the curse’s full unleashing, or forging a new path, one that embraces the wyrms’ raw power.  Caught between Elara’s adherence to tradition and Flicker’s call for innovation, Maren, with Thomas’ ability to understand ancient runes and Lily’s music soothing the wyrms, must weave together the threads of the past and the future, mending the fractured pact before the frost consumes Morningvale entirely.  Can she balance the old ways with the new, merging the Hearthkeepers’ craft with the untamed magic of the wyrms? Or will the valley succumb to the icy grip of a heartbroken Hearthkeeper’s ancient sorrow?