#ithotb

ohhhhhh my god thank you i can't believe someone asked about it!!! here is my massively long explanation. In the House of the Beast is a youngish adult fantasy novel i've been writing since i think 2020?? when it felt like @bluemourning and I had read every single (decent)queer fantasy book over the course of lockdown. so, the answer was for us to write stories for each other. ITHOTB started in this way as a very different story but at it's core has always been about the same basic characters and conflict. It's a story about magic and violence and most importantly, dependency and love. I wanted to explore the limits of codependency and see how long term, devoted PLATONIC love between friends and siblings gets transformed in the face of horrific magical ailments, warfare, and growing up and learning that the people you loved aren't just carbon copies of your own indoctrinated belief system. Then, how introducing a newcomer into this group who is even more insane would alter the dynamic. There is a queer romance element but it's not the main plotline.

So. SO! Lennox and her stepbrother Jude are well respected, wealthy highborn teens (18ish) in a kingdom called Kaska. Their best friend is the crown prince of Kaska, Damien. Two years before the story begins, Damien leaves on a mandatory religious pilgrimage to a holy fort where he is not allowed to leave or see anyone for two years while he undergoes a spiritual process to prepare him for his eventual ascension to the throne.

The story begins with Damien coming back from his two year seclusion with a classic case of Came Back Wrong. He is cold and dismissive towards his friends and displays unusual paranoia and cruelty, in addition to fits of illness that seem magical in nature. Lennox grows to resent this new Damien while also searching for clues to figure out what happened to Damien and what is wrong with him.

Mara, the other POV character, is a foreigner who has been sent on a mission to infiltrate Kaska's court and protect the life of Prince Damien by her adoptive guardian, Grun. Grun has trained Mara from a young age for this specific task, but given her very little info about why she needs to do this. Mara has been raised much like a soldier for Grun's cause without even really knowing what it is. Mara also can do a type of magic that is illegal and punishable by death in Kaska, so Grun has gotten her addicted to a drug that suppresses her magical abilities. Once in Kaska, Mara meets Lennox, Jude, and Damien and begins to question what the purpose of her mission is and why she is so loyal to Grun.