ANMELDENTorin“Are you not enjoying the celebration tonight?”She didn't look angry. She didn't look feral. She looked completely relaxed, like she had been sitting there watching me struggle for the last ten minutes."Saddle would have slipped completely under the beast's belly the second you hit a full gallop," Yvara noted. Her dark eyes flicked down to the loose straps hanging from the horse, then back up to my face. She smiled. "You'd break your neck before you even cleared the tree line."I dropped the reins. The heavy leather straps hit the dirt floor. My mouth opened, but no sound came out. My throat was completely paralyzed."Going somewhere, Lord Torin?" she asked, tilting her head slightly. She set the lantern down on the hay bale next to her."I..." I swallowed hard, the taste of my own blood still sharp on my tongue. "I am leaving. The Queen ordered me back to the capital. I am carrying a message for King Aldric."Yvara let out a soft, breathy laugh. She wasn’t buying my lie. She
Torin"Easy, boy."I glanced around the dark stall and spotted the tack hanging over the wooden partition. A heavy leather saddle, a thick felt pad, and a tangled mess of reins and straps.I grabbed the saddle pad and threw it over the horse's back. The animal side-stepped heavily, slamming its immense weight against the side of the stall. The wood groaned under the impact."Stand still, you stupid beast," I hissed, panic rising in my chest again.I grabbed the saddle. It weighed at least forty pounds. I grunted, hoisting it up and dropping it awkwardly onto the horse's back. It landed slightly crooked.I moved to the horse's side to secure the straps.I didn't know what I was doing. Back in Valdris, my stable boys had my mount saddled and ready before I even finished my breakfast. I had never actually tacked a horse myself.I reached under the horse's belly to grab the heavy girth strap. The animal pinned its ears back and shifted its weight, stepping directly onto the toe of my righ
TorinThe men walked slowly. They were talking in low, guttural voices. As they passed the tapestry, the smell hit me. It was a suffocating wave of copper, stale alcohol, and raw musk. I peeked through a small tear in the fabric.They were massive. Both of them were stripped to the waist, their chests covered in a sheen of sweat and smeared with fresh blood. One of them had deep, angry scratch marks running all the way down his back. They were casually dragging a heavy wooden flagon of wine between them, laughing about something I couldn't understand.I squeezed my eyes shut. I suddenly smelled the heavy, floral scent of my own expensive lavender soap wafting up from my collar. It was the most unnatural smell in this entire fortress. I was reeking of the South. I waited for them to stop. I waited for them to catch the scent, rip the tapestry aside, and drag me out by my hair.The footsteps kept going. They faded down the hall.My lungs burned. I dropped my hands and gasped for air, th
TorinThe heavy oak door clicked shut, and the sound echoed in the freezing room like the drop of an executioner's blade.I stood completely frozen in the center of the guest quarters. I stared at the dark wood of the door, waiting for it to open again. I waited for Irina to walk back in, to tell me she was just punishing me, to tell me she actually had a plan to get us out of this frozen hell alive.The iron latch didn't move. She was gone.The silence inside the room pressed against my eardrums, but it couldn't drown out the low, violent vibration coming through the floorboards. The Ironmaw drums. They thumped with a relentless, heavy rhythm that made the acid in my stomach push straight up into the back of my throat.I dropped to my knees on the cold stone floor. My hands shook so violently I couldn't even press my palms flat against the ground. I dry-heaved, coughing up nothing but bitter saliva.She left me. The Queen of Valdris, the woman I had risked my entire life to bed, had
IrinaHe dragged me down another hallway and shoved open a heavy set of double doors. The freezing night air hit my face instantly. We stepped out onto a wide stone balcony overlooking the lower courtyard of the keep.The noise was deafening. Massive, roaring firepits cast the entire courtyard in a violent, flickering orange glow.He released my wrist and stepped directly behind me. His heavy hands clamped down firmly on my shoulders, forcing me to stand near the stone railing and look over the edge."Look at them," he commanded right by my ear.I looked down into the courtyard, and my breath completely left my lungs.It was an absolute, unrestrained spectacle of raw, primal sex. There were easily over a hundred wolves down there. The vast majority of them were completely naked, their clothes discarded in the snow or thrown over the wooden tables.Right below the balcony, bathed in the firelight, a massive warrior had a woman pinned back against a heavy oak table. He had her legs hook
IrinaYou ever feel a sound before you actually hear it? That heavy, rhythmic vibration that starts in the soles of your feet and crawls straight up the marrow of your bones?That’s what the Ironmaw drums were doing. I was standing perfectly still in the center of my guest quarters, staring at the cold stone wall, but my entire body was humming. The low, relentless thump-thump-thump of the celebration outside was bleeding through the floorboards.I walked over to the wooden washbasin and plunged my hands into the freezing water. I splashed it over my face, my neck, and my chest, scrubbing my skin until it turned a raw, blotchy red. I wanted Torin’s pathetic, panicked sweat off me. I wanted the smell of his cheap lavender oil completely gone.I grabbed a rough linen towel and dried off, throwing it onto the floor. I stood there naked, shivering from the draft, but the freezing air wasn't doing a damn thing to put out the fire burning between my legs. My cunt throbbed. It was a heavy, d
SeraNight fell fast, and with it, the temperature plummeted. We had three fires going, but the heat didn't seem to travel more than six inches past the flames. I sat on a log by the middle fire, pulling the wagon fur around my shoulders, shivering so hard my teeth were literally clicking together.
SeraNight fell fast, and with it, the temperature plummeted. We had three fires going, but the heat didn't seem to travel more than six inches past the flames. I sat on a log by the middle fire, pulling the wagon fur around my shoulders, shivering so hard my teeth were literally clicking together.
SeraThe light coming through the ceiling vents was fading into a deep violet. Torches were being lit, their orange glow reflecting off the polished stone. I sat on the wagon, feeling the cold start to seep back in, wondering if I’d just been forgotten.The warrior returned, bringing a girl with hi
SeraThe sound changed first.The open, biting wind of the trail died away, replaced by a deep, resonant echo. The wagon wheels stopped crunching over frozen dirt and began to strike something solid and smooth. Stone. Large, fitted blocks that sang under the horses' hooves. We were passing under an







