Fox Between Worlds

A Cherokee Sanctuary, a Spanish Chain, and the Long Road Home – Book One of the Eliza Hart Chronicles

In the shattered aftermath of the American Revolution, Tsula—known in Charlotte as Eliza Hart—vanishes from a state gaol under a clerk’s neat lie: no longer in custody. Her mother Anne and father Samuel refuse to trust ink and rumor, while a guilt-ridden tracker, Joey Pike, follows a trail marked by a torn red thread. South of the Carolina roads, Eliza finds a hard-won sanctuary among Cherokee kin—protected by steady-eyed Degataga and drawn into a quiet, dangerous love with Atsadi “Sparrow-Hawk.” But peace on the border must be worked for, and empires do not forget useful women. Spanish agents in Florida close their net, hauling Eliza to St. Augustine’s pale coquina walls. Capitán Tomás de Quesada offers a bargain: become an interpreter for Spain’s border chessboard, or rot. With Isabela Rojas watching and Fray Ignacio pressing her toward obedience, Eliza builds her escape the only way she knows—inch by inch, favor by favor, map by map—until night water, pursuit, and a long road north drag her back toward Charlotte, where home remembers everything.