Page 1 of A Bond in Blood

Chapter 1

The Gods were whispering, beckoning for me to listen.

But my heart and mind were focused ahead of me, watching the fjord. Searching for the signs of my future approaching. The destiny I hadn’t known to be an option.

Beside me my father, the king, fidgeted nervously. The movement was irritating, and while I would have usually questioned his disjointed shuffling, I held my tongue. It was my day.

One I’d waited for.

Three long years of patience for my betrothed to sail his ship to our secluded island in the sea. Years that should have been nothing for me as a half-fae woman, nearly immortal. Yet, the longing had almost killed me. Even with our letter-only communication, those years had moved as slowly as the glaciers that had formed my beloved fjord.

My hands twitched at my sides while I looked for him—Prince Leif of Havrd.

He’d surprised us all with that first letter. Addressing it only to my father, he made his intentions known that he’d heard ofthe beautiful, auburn-haired princess living in the mortal realms and he intended to make me his bride.

My father had objected at first.

Surprising no one.

But Leif was insistent, sending only letters to father at the beginning. Laying out his intentions. Sending portraits of not only himself, but his kingdom and family. Slowly breaking down my father’s anxious heart until he allowed the letters to go to me.

My heart instantly latched onto the first two words.

My enaid.

Enaid—the silly word the Seelie fae used in their land. A word the mortals refused to use when describing their other halves. Previously, I would have scoffed at it. I wasn’t one for fae customs, leaning more toward my mortal half.

But the word…

It had wrapped around my soul, dragging me to him instantly.

The wind picked up around me while my mind drifted along with it. I wondered if perhaps the Gods were blessing this first meeting. Perhaps Odynn was granting his approval for the joining of our kingdoms.

My family would be making history again by joining mortal and fae people together. Creating a new kingdom and potentially bringing additional change to this world as well.

My eyes lifted upward while I gave my thanks to the Gods for their love and blessings.

Then the rain fell.

Small patters at first which turned to a downpour, instantly soaking me to the bone.

Every warning bell inside of me went off, forcing my eyes back to the fjord. I scanned the water, now darkening with the sudden storm, and my blood ran cold.

The brilliant, blue skies from before were encompassed with threatening dark clouds, heading over my island at alarming speed. At the forefront of that storm was an ominous black ship.

Screams rang out along the deck behind me as my people scattered. They all knew, as well as I, only one being in our world had a ship so dark no sunlight shone on its surface. A moving casket in the water, traveling to lay wreckage on the unsuspecting mortal lands when its owner grew bored.

The Unseelie King’s vessel was as brutal as the man himself.

I shook my head, stepping back in shock as the boat moved against the waters of the fjord. The speed—it was unnatural, unthinkable. Bringing a dark air of violence over myself and my small kingdom.

Only, I was frozen in my place. As though the ice from the hills beyond my home had held me still, commanding me to remain where I was.

Time slowed; it moved at an agonizing speed as the ship approached, cutting through the water with ease. It pulled the very air from my lungs the closer it grew.

I did not move.

Instead, my eyes moved back and forth, keeping track of the omen approaching the dock where my betrothed’s vessel was intended to go.

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