Miracle's Reckless Mate
The rich scent of roasted boar, spiced mead, and burning cedar filled the clearing as guards slammed iron tankards together, celebrating the end of three days of pure hell debating who would win.
Miracle sat near the center of the flames on a carved wooden bench. She had scrubbed the mountain mud from her skin and let her hair fall loose over a clean white wool tunic.
She threw her head back, laughing warmly as one of her young scouts dramatically re-enacted her tackle in the mud pit. Firelight danced across her warm skin, making her look softer, gorgeous, and entirely unapproachable.
A hundred yards away, deep in the icy, pitch-black shadows of the fir trees, a single cherry-red ember flare