Novels by Millidon

The final day arrived wrapped in unnatural stillness. No wind stirred the pines. No birds called from the forest edge. Even the wolves patrolling the outer perimeter moved with hushed steps, as though the entire Northern Territories understood that tonight the Moon Goddess would watch closely, and her judgment would be merciless.Inside Blackthorn Keep the atmosphere thickened with ritual. Servants lit braziers in every corridor until the stone walls glowed amber. Incense burned in copper bowls, heavy with myrrh and cedar, curling through the air like sacred smoke. The elders donned their ceremonial robes of midnight velvet embroidered with silver moons. Warriors sharpened ceremonial daggers until the blades sang against whetstones. And in the sacred grove beyond the eastern gate, a wide circle of white stones had been cleared of snow, the ground beneath packed hard and sprinkled with crushed pine needles to keep the footing sure.Ashley spent the morning in isolation. Gideon had orde

The second day bled into the third with relentless speed, as though time itself conspired to drag the mating ceremony closer. Blackthorn Keep thrummed with final preparations. Banners of black and silver snapped in the wind above the battlements. Torches were set along every path leading to the sacred grove where the rite would take place beneath the blood moon. The air carried the sharp scent of pine smoke and roasting meat from the kitchens, mingling with the metallic tang of freshly sharpened blades. Warriors drilled in the courtyard, their breaths fogging in the cold, while elders chanted low prayers to the Moon Goddess in the chapel tower.Ashley felt every heartbeat like a countdown.She had barely slept. The bond with Damien pulsed through her even in dreams, pulling her toward him across stone walls and guarded corridors. She woke flushed and restless, the memory of his mouth on hers burning behind her eyelids. Every brush of fabric against her skin reminded her of his hands.

The rest of that night passed in fragments for Ashley. She returned to the scullery long after the hall had emptied, her hands shaking as she scrubbed the silver until her knuckles bled. The other servants cast curious glances but asked no questions. In Blackthorn Keep, silence was safer than curiosity. She finished her chores by candlelight, then slipped into the narrow attic room she shared with two other maids. The pallet was thin, the blanket thinner, but she curled beneath it anyway, staring at the rafters while the bond pulsed beneath her skin like a second heartbeat.Sleep refused to come. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Damien: the hard line of his jaw, the storm in his gaze, the way his fingers had trembled when they touched her. The bond was alive now, a living thing coiled in her chest, tightening with every breath she took. She had heard stories of true mates, whispered tales passed between kitchen girls on cold nights. They spoke of instant knowing, of souls recogn

Snow fell in thick, relentless sheets outside Blackthorn Keep, blanketing the jagged peaks of the Northern Territories in a silence so deep it felt like the world held its breath. Inside the ancient stone walls, however, tension crackled like dry wood waiting for a spark. The full moon was three nights away, and with it came the mating ceremony that would bind two of the strongest packs in the north. Everyone knew the stakes. Everyone knew the players. No one spoke of the one who had been erased from the story long before it began.Ashley moved through the lower corridors with the practiced quiet of someone who had learned early that noise drew eyes, and eyes drew punishment. Her dark hair was pulled into a tight knot at the nape of her neck, strands escaping like rebellious threads she had no time to tame. The woolen dress she wore was patched at the knees and wrists, once a deep green but now faded to the color of old moss. It had belonged to Clara once, before it was declared unfit