The Knight and the Moth
In the kingdom of Traum, six unearthly beings known as the Omens speak to the world through dreams, and only the Diviners of Aisling Cathedral can hear them. Sybil Delling — called Six — is one of them: a foundling girl who traded ten years of service for a home, and who has spent nine of them dreaming other people's futures instead of her own.
When the newly crowned King Benedict Castor III arrives to have his fortune read, he brings with him Sir Rodrick "Rory" Myndacious, a knight who is rude, heretical and entirely unimpressed by the cathedral's gods. Then Sybil's fellow Diviners begin to disappear one by one, and the only future she cannot see is the one she needs most.
Forced beyond the cathedral walls with a knight she does not trust and a batlike gargoyle who calls everyone Bartholomew, Sybil sets out across Traum to find the missing women. What she uncovers turns on the Omens themselves — and on a faith she has never once been permitted to question.
The Knight and the Moth is the first book of The Stonewater Kingdom, a gothic romantasy duology by Rachel Gillig, author of One Dark Window. It debuted at number one on the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list; the duology concludes with The Knave and the Moon.
Called Six. A foundling raised in Aisling Cathedral who has served nine years as a Diviner, receiving the Omens' visions in her dreams.
Sir Rodrick "Rory" Myndacious, a rude and heretical knight in King Benedict Castor III's service, and the book's male lead.
The newly crowned king of Traum, whose visit to Aisling Cathedral to have his fortune read sets the story in motion.
It is the first of two books in The Stonewater Kingdom, a duology by Rachel Gillig. The story continues and concludes in The Knave and the Moon, published in September 2026.
No. One Dark Window and Two Twisted Crowns are Rachel Gillig's earlier duology, The Shepherd King, and are a separate story in a separate world. The Knight and the Moth is a fresh starting point.
Adult. It is published by Orbit on its adult fantasy list, and contains sexual content and violence. Readers coming from YA romantasy will find the prose accessible, but it is not marketed or shelved as a young adult title.
It has not won a major award, but it debuted at number one on the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list and spent eight weeks on the list. It was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Award for Romantasy, and the audiobook was a finalist for an Audie Award for Fantasy.