The first book, The Sorceress and the Cygnet, follows Corleu, a young Wayfolk man who, in all innocence, finds himself trapped in a plot by several mythical creatures to overthrow the power of the Holder's house. In his quest to release himself from their control, he falls in with the titular sorceress Nyx Ro, bog witch and heir of the Holder, and her beleaguered cousin and best friend Meguet Vervaine.
The second book, The Cygnet and the Firebird, follows Nyx and Meguet when a strange mage and a firebird arrive in Ro Holding, revealing not only the existence of lands beyond but a brewing war that threatens to spill over into Ro Holding.
This series provides examples of:
- Almost Kiss: Nyx and Brand work their way to a cave with a waterfall, but just as they're about to kiss midnight falls and he transforms back into the firebird.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Lampshaded by Draken Saphier with respect to the treacherous and changeable magic of the Luxour: "People come looking for wonders [...] They never stop to think that they might find what they are looking for."
- Bigger on the Inside: A property of mage abilities; Nyx has a cottage with a thousand rooms and Rad carries days' worth of food in a cube that fits in his hand.
- Dance Battler: The warrior-mages of Saphier have a dance which becomes a martial art when sped up.
- Hopeless Suitor: Rush Yarr is deeply in love with Nyx, and although she has no hard feelings she never returns his affection.
- It's All My Fault: Nyx, Meguet, and Rad all claim this when it appears they have lost and the Big Bad is going to win. Brand opts to defy it, hard.Rad: If I hadn't dragged you here with me -
Nyx: If I had just let you take the key.
Meguet: If I had not picked up the rose.
Brand: (angrily) It's my father's fault. None of yours.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If Rad Ilex had never learned of Chrysom's key and accidentally let Draken know, nothing in book two would have happened.
- Our Dragons Are Different: They live in different pocket dimensions, can only be glimpsed by mages or other powered individuals, and have little to no understanding of, or even knowledge of, humans. Even asleep, they positively leak magic into the ambient environment.
- Out of the Frying Pan: Run away from Draken Saphier... run into a real live dragon. Subverted in that the dragon really is the less scary of the two options.
- Pocket Dimension: The Wayfolk get stuck in one to blackmail Corleu.
- The Shadow Knows: When Brand and Draken finally reunite, the power of the Luxour grants them each a shadow matching their Animal Motif - a dragon for Draken and the firebird for Brand. And then the dragon stretches out to devour the bird, revealing Draken for the antagonist.
- Unrequited Love Lasts Forever: Rush Yarr has apparently loved Nyx for years and years. He finally gets over it when she gets fed up, yells at him for Loving a Shadow, and curses him to be stuck in the tower until he finds an actual relationship.
- We Used to Be Friends: Rad and Brand. According to Brand, this is because Rad betrayed the Saphier family and is the one who transformed him. Turns out it was actually Draken, though.Meguet: What are you to the firebird?
Rad Ilex: Once, we were friends.
