The deer court wants as their bride
Arya Blackthorn, twenty years old and entirely ordinary, has her life upended when she is abducted into the Fae realm by King Kaehl Glasir of the Deer Court—the kingdom of eternal winter.
Kaehl claims Arya is meant to be his bride, bound by a thousand-year pact known as the Covenant. But that is a lie.
[DING!]
[NEW QUEST: SURVIVE 100 DAYS]
[PENALTY: DEATH]
Within the Deer Court, Arya must survive poisons, ruthless politics, and the hatred of Fae who see her as weak. Yet strangely, the cold, cruel King keeps stepping between her and harm. When she is poisoned, Kaehl does not hesitate to cut his own hand to craft the antidote. When the Deer Clan demands war, Arya steps forward to defend him.
Amidst every danger, a bond forms between them. The Binding Ritual weaves their lives together: if one falls, the other follows. And Kaehl’s favor rises from 5% to 99%.
But in Chapter 10, the truth unravels: the Covenant was never about marriage. It was always about sacrifice. When the Blood Moon rises in thirty days, Arya’s blood must be spilled to extend the endless winter for another thousand years. And pulling every string is the Archivist—the man who sold his soul to the Fae a millennium ago.
With time running out, Kaehl and Arya hunt for a way to break the curse. They venture into the Forbidden Archives, bargain with the Fox Court, stand against the Deer Clan, and face three trials set by the Owl Court. Only one clue remains: “Only true love, and the freely given blood of a King and Queen, can shatter the Moonstone.”
When the Blood Moon finally rises, the Archivist forces Kaehl to strike the killing blow himself. But Kaehl chooses to see the world burn rather than lose her. Together, they bring down the Moonstone with their blood—and their love.
The Covenant breaks. A thousand years of winter ends. The ice melts, and the first wildflowers bloom across the Deer Court.
One year later, Arya is no longer a sacrifice. She is its rightful Queen. And Kaehl is no longer the heartless Ice King—he is the King who chose spring.
Stolen by the Ice King and forced to be his bride: that was the start of Arya’s nightmare.
But the thousand-year pact was built on lies. Her blood was meant to be the price.
With only a strange System as her guide, she has thirty days to stay alive, melt a frozen heart, and shatter a curse written in blood.
Between betrayal, war, and a love that grows in the harshest frost…
She must choose: die as the offering, or live—and rewrite the fate of all four Fae Kingdoms.
A human girl has thirty days to thaw the Ice King’s heart and break the curse that demands her life—before the Blood Moon rises.