Sweet Mother, I Cannot Weave - Pre-Order

Laelia Naevius is cursed by the goddess Venus. She’s eighteen, well past the usual marrying age for those of her social standing, and despite her father's fervent prayers and endless work, every single suitor she finds herself betrothed to dies before she can make it to the altar. She supposes she should be upset by this—the gods know her father is—but she can't help but thank the Goddess for throwing her a bone. She doesn't want to get married at all. She's too busy staring at another girl.

The girl in question is another noble, a Persian woman fighting as a ludia, a gladiatrix, in the arena. Lady Jihane is a skilled warrior, one of the best, and watching her fight makes something awaken in Laelia that she has never felt before. It’s an easy thing to beg her father to let her spend time with this strong noblewoman—if he believes it might put her on a proper path, the path of a dutiful wife, then so be it—but training in swordplay is far more enticing than homemaking lessons could ever hope to be, and Jihane is far more skilled in the former than the latter, even if she is a stern teacher. There is power in what Jihane does, in how she lives her life and clashes with others in the arena, and Laelia can’t help but want to be a part of it, no matter how many bruises or late-night training sessions it takes.

Of course, Laelia just wished she knew how to combat this strange, exhilarating feeling growing in her stomach before it leads her down a road her father definitely wouldn’t want her to take.

28k | F/F | Smutty Sapphic RomCom

Story Vibes: RomCom, historical romance, sword lesbians, societal freedom through muscle gain, the sweatiest wlw of your dreams.

Contains: mentions of historical slavery, descriptions of animal death (boar killed in the arena), female oppression a la Roman Patriarchy, excessive Sappho quotes, pining, cunnilingus, vaginal fingering, oil wrestling, combat training, and references to off-screen male suitor deaths. 

Title will drop at noon EST 5.15.25!

A/N: Yet another silly story resurrected from the gdoc draft graveyard. This one came about after I contracted terminal brainrot following the discovery of the existence of Ludia, ie female gladiators. I went down the research rabbit hole and came up with this concept in mind. It went through a few iterations as I tried to hammer out the direction I wanted it to take. I was caught between the need to make it historically accurate (in as much as I could, at any rate), but also give it a happy ending that didn't leave it destined for an eventual, post-book "and then she married a man and never got to actually be with her female lover again) sort of finality. It got easier when I leaned into the RomCom concept of "she really IS cursed by the goddess to never make it to the altar" so that's sort of where I've left it.  

Like Courtly Love, this one may receive the full publication package at a later date, but not for the time being. I'm not very happy with the cover I managed to make for it and I think there may still be a bit more story left to tell in this one, though what that story might be escapes me at this point in time. Hope you all enjoy it for what it is and are content that I've finally made good on my perpetual promises to have some sapphic work made public.