I’m delighted to share that BOUND MAIDEN: DAPHNE'S CHASE is finally finished and officially scheduled for release on September 1.

This is the second standalone story in my Bacchanalia cycle, following SUMMER MAIDEN: PERSEPHONE'S FALL. This time, I’m turning to the myth of Daphne and Apollo. (Who you might remember from SUMMER MAIDEN.)

In the story most of us have read, Apollo is struck by Cupid's arrow and desires Daphne, but she runs from him, and in an attempt to preserve her chastity, she is transformed into a laurel tree before he can claim her.

I have never found that story very satisfying.

And like Persephone, there is an exquisite sculpture of Daphne and Apollo by Bernini - in the Borghese Gallery. (The leaves of her fingers are so thin you can see the light through the marble.) I didn't need much more inspiration.

The story of Daphne leads itself perfectly to the Bondage and Dominance aspect of BDSM, and I knew Daphne's story of being bound in the laurel tree would be improved just as a story of being bound. Of freedom and choice and love.

I asked: What did Daphne want before the chase began? What did freedom mean to a woman who had devoted herself to Artemis, rejected marriage, and built her identity around remaining untouched? And what might happen if the god pursuing her discovered that desire, surrender, and possession were not nearly as simple as even he believed he was?

The result is BOUND MAIDEN: DAPHNE'S CHASE.

It has banter, enemies-to-lovers tension, bondage, power exchange, divine punishment, mythic violence, and a heroine who refuses to let anyone else define what freedom should look like for her. It's a little lighter in tone than SUMMER MAIDEN, but just as edgy.

At its heart, though, it is a story about choice. About the difference between being conquered and choosing to surrender.

About a woman discovering that strength does not always mean refusing to yield.

And about a god who begins the story thinking love is an amusement and ends it understanding what it means to stand between the woman he loves and the thing that would destroy her.

I’m enormously excited to finally share this version of Daphne’s story.

BOUND MAIDEN: DAPHNE'S CHASE releases September 1.