Chapter 1 - Red
All I saw was red.
The frigid air stung my skin, but my blood blazed as I ran through the snow. My breath escaped my clenched teeth in short curls of mist. I gripped the Hyton dagger at my side as I chased my prey.
Daigen—the horned red monster of Nordingaard mountain.
He was supposed to make my fifteen-foot-tall husband the size of a normal man, but now, he was going to rescue Riyan from the Queen of the Giants. She had already taken my brothers from me, she was not going to take Riyan too.
Daigen sprinted farther ahead, his hooved legs moving faster through the snow than my short ones could carry me. His shock of white hair flowed out behind him as he disappeared behind a rock formation.
I turned as I followed him, finding a trail of hoofprints in the snow that led straight into the rocks with no way out.
I held my breath and listened for any movement. My golden blood bond twisted around my chest and cried out with every thump of my heart: Save Riyan. Save Riyan. Save Riyan.
I slowly stepped closer to the wall of rocks, scanning the grey and white formation for any trace of red. I reached past my blood bond and channeled the magic of the flaming white diamond in my heart.
Nothing responded. My magic was silent, but so were my footsteps.
I stalked closer as my grip on the dagger tightened. My eyes snapped to a boulder that moved up and down—it was breathing.
A smile crept up my lips. Daigen was a trickster, but turning invisible was not enough to evade me.
I reached into the depths of my throat to draw out my most commanding voice. “I caught you, beast. You have nowhere to hide.”
Daigen’s ugly red face appeared as his grey cloak of invisibility fanned away from him. He was even more terrifying up close. Shining black horns grew from his brow and curved toward his long hair. Thick, dark eyebrows framed his sharp golden eyes. His hands ended in claws instead of fingers.
Daigen’s mouth contorted into a snarl. “You caught nothing, mortal. Do you really think a little dagger could subdue me?”
I twisted the dagger so it reflected moonlight in his eyes. “Do you really want to find out?”
His snarl turned into a smirk. “Mean little girls with flowers in their hair don’t scare me.”
I stopped myself from reaching up to the crown of blue flowers on my head—one of Riyan’s last gifts to me. How dare that monster insult it?
The golden blood bond twisted in my chest. Push harder. Save Riyan.
I whirled the dagger to point at his throat. “The Queen of the Giants took my husband. You will help me get him back, or else.”
Daigen crossed his arms. “No.” A smile spread across his face. “What a silly little threat—you can’t kill me. No one can.”
I stepped closer until my dagger was inches from his crimson neck. “Then we will see if immortals can feel pain.”
A flash of metal pulled my eyes away from his face—a curved knife was in his claws. The notches in the metal that formed faded runes must have been ancient, but the blade’s edge was as sharp as a new day.
“You should never assume you’re the only one with a knife,” Daigen said. “How about this—let’s drop our weapons at the same time and then we talk like civilized monsters.”
Moonlit snowflakes fell around us. I channeled my magic, trying to force the red monster’s blood to ignite like I had with a giant, but nothing responded.
Why was my magic failing? Was he just that much stronger than me?
Though questions made my heart race, my blood bond pumped courage through my veins.
I could not be afraid. I had to save Riyan.
Daigen shifted his weight. “I promise not to hurt you. On the count of three, we drop the blades. Ready?”
A curt nod was all I gave him.
He held the knife out to the side. “One.”
I did the same. “Two.”
Daigen smiled. “Three.”
Just as Daigen dropped his knife, I plunged my dagger into his exposed side. The dagger tore his ragged wool tunic as I wedged the blade between his ribs.
His fangs gleamed in the moonlight as he hissed in pain. I yanked the dagger out with a grunt and his blood dripped off the blade like rubies.
“ Litlnadr! ” Daigen shouted as he clutched his wound.
No time to figure out what he had just said. I sprinted forward, ready to stab him into submission, when the icy air wrapped around my wrist and held me back.
My magic pushed against Daigen’s enchantment but was too weak to throw him off.
Daigen’s claws splayed out toward me and the air around my wrist trembled under the force of his enchantment. No more blood dripped from his shirt—his magic blood had already healed him.
His fangs gleamed as he smiled. “You really think I am going to help you if you keep stabbing me? You’re not thinking this through, how unlike you.”
My bond blazed golden fire in my chest. All I could think of was getting Riyan back, no matter the cost.
My furious breath puffed out in a swirl of mist as I tugged on Daigen’s invisible hold. “I will not take ‘no’ for an answer. We are going to rescue Riyan, make him the size of a normal man, and then he and I will finally seal our damn blood bond!”
“Why should I care about you sealing that putrid blood bond?” He barely blinked as I struggled against his enchantment with all my might. “Who told you to seek out the scary red monster of the mountain?”
I pulled back, my feet dragging in the snow but my arm staying firmly in place. “Rosaline.” I hissed. “She said—”
“Is that who Fraleigh’s servant is these days?” He clicked his tongue. “How naughty of her to mention me. The Great Sorceress of Nordingaard doesn’t want me anywhere near mortals.”
I yanked my arm back so hard I might have dislocated it. “I do not care what Fraleigh wants!” Fraleigh had refused to help us. She could burn in the high halls of hell. “We are going to Ganora and—”
The snow suddenly swallowed my feet. I only had enough time to look down before it shoved me backward.
The back of my head hit the cold powder and I opened my eyes to the waning moon against the dark sky.
Daigen’s voice cut over the wind. “So demanding and yet you don’t even know what you truly want.” His hooves crunched in the snow. “You don’t even know who you are asking, either.”
The snow pushed me back up to my feet. The frigid air wrapped around my neck, holding me in place while the snow gripped my ankles.
He canted his head. “I could suffocate you right now and you’re not even trying to get out of it.” His thick brows knitted. “What if I tried to turn you into a white bear to match your House emblem, Baron Serafina Bloodstone? Would you try to run then?”
I clenched my teeth as my blood turned dark, like Daigen had invaded my body and snuffed out the light. The golden blood bond pushed back, screaming through my muscles to fight the darkness.
Save Riyan. Save Riyan.
“Still no sense of self-preservation. How disappointing.” Daigen smirked. “Fine, you want my help…but what would you give me in exchange for my services?”
The gilded flare of the bond pushed my answer out of my strained throat. “Anything!”
His enchantment forced my arms against my sides and I dropped the dagger into the snow.
“What a predictable answer,” Daigen said cooly. “Anything? Would you tear down Hyton Palace brick by brick?”
The Hytons were monsters. “Yes.”
Daigen’s eyes flicked down to my skirt. “What about those two golden House pins? Would you give me control of the North?”
What good was ruling the North without Riyan to rule it with? “Yes.”
Daigen shook his head. “That doesn’t sound right, not after everything I have heard about you.”
I struggled against his hold. “What do you mean? Take the damn House pins and take me to Riyan!”
He slowly circled me. “The Serafina I heard of would have never let go of that power. She would have lied and squirmed until she could shelter in the cozy embrace of the Hyton bulls.”
The wind screamed through the craggy rocks and Daigen smiled. “I have my price.”
My chest rose and fell with my strained breath. “Name it.”
Suddenly the wind went still and Daigen’s eyes gleamed. “Your blood bond.”
His magic released me and I gasped. My feet staggered in the snow, but my hands flew to the center of my chest.
“Didn’t expect that?” Daigen lowered his hand. “I bet you’ve experienced a lot of things you didn’t expect over the past eight days. Sudden attraction to a stranger. Erasure of reasonable fear. An unexplained desire to touch.”
Daigen’s lies could not fool me. I had not known Riyan for long, but he was so handsome, of course I was attracted to him. I was afraid at first because he was nine feet tall, but I overcame that because I—
“Do you really love him?” Daigen’s wicked smile did not falter. “Or is Fraleigh’s enchantment doing exactly what it was supposed to do—push you to feel everything you needed to consummate the union?”
I refused to believe him, but how did he know what I was thinking? I had heard Fraleigh’s voice in my mind before, but that would mean…
“Get out of my head!” I shouted.
“You let me in.”
His golden eyes flicked up and I followed them. An invisible rope that I sensed through my magic sprung out from between my eyes and connected me to Daigen. His eyes glittered like he had discovered treasure.
I swatted at that rope, but my hand just passed through the falling snowflakes.
Daigen clicked his tongue. “Can’t break the connection, not when the little Serafina in your head still wants help. Wants the truth. Wants—”
“Enough!” I just wanted his aid, not to be flayed open and seen.
He raised an eyebrow. “So you accept?”
My marriage enchantment was the most precious possession I had. Not only was it the only barrier keeping me from being the property of the Hytons under Lycaster law, it was the tie that bound my heart to Riyan’s.
Because of my blood bond, I could feel again. I could cry again. I could breathe again.
And Daigen wanted to take it away?
I kneaded my crimson wool cape, smelling the lingering scent of nectar and wheat and the memory of Riyan’s warmth filled my chest. Even as I savored Riyan’s smell, Daigen’s words took root in the back of my mind.
No, I could not even consider his accusation. I loved Riyan. Fraleigh’s marriage enchantment had nothing to do with it. I loved his dimpled smile, and his twilight eyes, and his voice…
The memory of his voice, both rich and smooth as satin, filled my mind. “ Anything you want, you can have it! Just let Serafina go! ”
I let go of my cape and let out a pensive breath. Riyan had not questioned the price of my freedom with the Queen of the Giants. How could I question the price of his?
Whatever Daigen had planned to do with my blood bond…Riyan’s freedom was worth it.
My shoulders sagged but I raised my chin, looking Daigen in the eyes. My voice was sharp as my blade that lay in the snow. “Take it.”
Daigen let out a breath and dropped his hands. “What a good, sacrificial heart.” He raised his claws again. “Brace yourself.”
I raised my chest and closed my eyes. Hopefully Riyan would not feel any pain on his side of the bond.
“Open your mouth,” he ordered.
Slowly, I parted my lips. A claw colder than the icy wind shoved past my tongue and down my throat.
My hands flew to my neck. I held my trembling throat as the claw gripped that golden rope around my heart.
The claw pulled.
Dark ice burned my insides and I screamed. Just when I thought the pain could not be worse, the claw pulled again.
Tears wet the corners of my eyes. Golden light sapped from my toes, my fingers, my legs, then my arms. It pooled in my chest, winding tighter and tighter like a spool of thread.
“Let go!” Daigen shouted. “You have to let go of the bond!”
Deep within the diamond in my heart, a tiny red spot glowed. I followed that small heat and my chest opened like an uncurled fist.
A gasp reverberated through my whole body. The claw dragged the ribbon of golden light away from my heart and out of my throat. My jaw opened so wide I thought it would unhinge.
The lingering golden fire from the bond warmed my tongue before it dissipated off my lips.
I took in a ragged breath and my knees gave out as I folded forward.
Cold snow bit my palms as I panted, but little air filled my lungs. I pressed my hand against the hollow chasm in my chest, checking to ensure he had not carved out my heart.
Hooves crunched the snow beside me. “How does it feel to no longer be married?”
I pushed onto my knees and glared at him. I reached into the bleakness, looking for an insult to lob at him, but where I should have found a passionate anger, I felt nothing.
My face fell. I pressed my hand against my chest again, feeling against my sternum like I was rifling through an empty wardrobe. I searched for sadness, hope, pity, fear, longing…anything I had felt with Riyan before, but instead I felt nothing.
I felt nothing.
No, I loved him, I…thought I loved him.
My stomach dropped like I was falling backward. Nothing existed within me. Riyan was truly gone.
He was gone.
A crinkling sensation slithered across my brow and I slowly lifted the crown of flowers off my head. The twisted vines of blue flowers had withered and died, the now brown petals crumbling off the crown like ash.
“Why?” I pulled my eyes from the ruined gift to Daigen’s ugly face. “Why did you want my blood bond? Why would you take him away from me again?”
Daigen lowered onto his haunches and rested his forearms on his knees. “Did I really take him away when you never chose him? He was forced on you.”
Tepid tears lined my eyes. “Riyan never forced—”
“ Fraleigh forced it,” he said with disgust. “Her marriage enchantment has been corrupted for centuries, yet thousands of people are still bound under duress.”
Why would a monster on the mountain care about the noble marriage enchantment? Was he just a rival to Fraleigh’s magic?
The dead vines crinkled as I gripped them. “Do you really hate Fraleigh so much that you want to take her gifts away?”
Daigen’s eyes gleamed as the wind pushed his white hair around his horns. “Fraleigh was the start of your problem. Don’t you think the Queen of the Giants is deeply unsettled that her only sister is enslaved?”
That could not be right. Fraleigh, known to all as her majesty, could not be a…a slave.
And the Ganora was her sister?
Impossible, all of it. The Queen of the Giants did not have a sister. The Great Sorceress who dripped with jewels and lived in a palace of gold was no slave.
“But…Fraleigh is all-powerful?” I asked.
“All-powerful does not mean all-wise,” Daigen answered with a scowl. “She made a bad deal with the Hytons centuries ago and ended up permanently in their service. Ganora has been taking it out on the Dukedom ever since.”
What kind of a deal would a sorceress have made? I could not shake the memory of that piece of parchment with the Hyton seal on Father’s desk seven years ago.
A bad deal with the Hytons.
Daigen’s voice softened. “You made your payment, now you get my help.” He held out his hand. “Ganora took something from you, the Hytons took something from me. If you just trust me, we will both get what we want by the time the moon is full.”
My eyes traced the faint white scar in the center of Daigen’s palm. The mark was nearly identical to the blood bond scar on my left hand, but it was…purer, like it was formed with a different kind of magic.
I had completely surrendered to my own blood bond and let it ground me in a new, warmer reality. I thought my love for Riyan had changed me…but was it ever real?
Was anything between us ever real?
Within the dark chasm of my chest, the tiny white flame around my heart awoke. It flicked a small wisp of truth up my throat, dragging my shame with it. “How do I know if I ever loved him?”
He let out a gentle breath but did not lower his hand. “Love requires a choice. If you were ever meant to love him, you will without the bond. Trust me.”
Never before would I have considered trusting the horned monster of the mountain, but what choice did I have? Before I had a blood bond full of love and light to guide me, but now I was directionless without the enchantment from an enslaved sorceress. Did Rosaline tell me to find Daigen because he knew the truth of the world?
Regardless of why I found him or what he wanted from me…at least he was real.
I needed something real.
I lowered the wreath of dead flowers into the snow and placed my left palm on top of his right, the scars from two different blood bonds meeting.
And I chose to trust him.