Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

T he sleigh’s runners crunched through the packed snow, each jolt sending icy needles up Clarice’s spine. She tugged the borrowed furs closer, but the cold wormed its way beneath every layer. Her fingers had lost feeling an hour ago, and her toes weren’t far behind.

“Look at her, all bundled up like a newborn cub,” the driver said in Frostarii, his thick accent carrying over the wind. “These humans are as fragile as spring ice.”

His companion snorted. “What use will she be? Can’t even handle a proper winter.”

She kept her face neutral, grateful for the scarf hiding her clenched jaw. She’d studied Frostarii extensively on the ship—she’d had little else to do—and had a solid grasp of the language, though they clearly assumed otherwise. The Federation’s translation devices were rare and expensive—learning the old-fashioned way had been her only option.

Both males were Frostarii, natives of NorPol, and she snuck another look at them from under her lashes. They were basically humanoid, although taller and more muscular than the average human male. Even their features were similar to human features, although they had wider foreheads and sharper, more angular jaws. However, there was one very significant difference—the towering antlers that rose above their heads.

The antlers had a crystalline appearance that looked deceptively fragile, but she’d seen the videos of the males engaging in ritual combat, their antlers clashing like swords. The fight continued until one of them was subdued, but the injuries were rarely severe, at least in modern times. The females also had antlers, but theirs were shorter and more delicate.

She’d known all that beforehand, of course, but it was quite another experience to be surrounded by the massive males. The majority of the population were over six feet tall, with many topping seven feet.

There was another difference, one the driver ignored as he made another joke about her reaction to the cold. While their skin ranged in color from gold to silver to blue, it was much thicker than human skin with a sueded texture that helped protect them from the cold—an advantage she did not have.

The sleigh hit another bump, and she grabbed the wooden side to keep from tumbling into the snow. Her muscles ached from bracing herself against the side, but the alternative was sliding around in the now empty back of the vehicle. All of the other human refugees from her group had already been “distributed” to villages along the way.

The two males continued their conversation as if she wasn’t there.

“The Ruling Council’s gone soft, taking in these refugees. What do they expect us to do with them?”

“At least she’s the last one we have to deliver. North Haven should be grateful they’re only getting a single female. Poor Velkden got stuck with three families.”

“Ha! Serves them right for having all that extra space.”

The conversation brought back unpleasant memories of her social workers trying to find a new foster home for her. Fighting back a sudden urge to cry, she stared at the approaching mountains, their peaks lost in gray clouds. After almost three years in the crowded confines of the huge refugee ship, the vast wilderness should have felt liberating. Instead, the endless white landscape pressed in around her, as suffocating as the crowded streets of the Earth she’d left behind.

The driver adjusted the controls, frowning at the sky. “We’d better hurry. Storm’s coming in from the north.”

His companion spat over the side. “Just what we need. Stuck babysitting a human in a blizzard.”

Although the body of the sleigh was little more than a large open wooden box with a bench seat across the front, it was powered by one of the NorPol crystal engines—a type of technology unique to the planet—and it responded to the driver, moving faster across the snow and making her cling even more tightly to the side.

The land began to rise around them as they reached the foothills of the mountains and the open plain was replaced by thick stands of evergreens. They were so tall she couldn’t see the tops, and the needles had a bluish tint.

As the sleigh climbed higher, she began to see more animal tracks, the snow disturbed in places by small, round shapes. Some of the tracks were so large that they would have been alarming under other circumstances, but she was too uncomfortable to worry about them.

The trees drew closer to the track they were following but the driver didn’t slow down. Branches slapped the sides of the sleigh, sending showers of snow flying over the edge to land on her. She wiped the snow from her face, her frozen fingers stinging at the gesture.

The sleigh finally lurched to a halt, and her escorts descended. They didn’t offer to help her out, and her stiff legs protested as she climbed down. Her boots were even more inadequate against the fresh snow, and the wet chill soaked through them as she made her way to the front of the sleigh. She steadied herself against the wooden rails as she took in her first glimpse of North Haven.

Stone and timber cottages nestled amidst the trees, radiating out from a central square. Their high peaked roofs were almost invisible beneath a thick coat of white but the bargeboards were elaborately carved and painted. Garlands of dried leaves and berries wrapped around door frames, while carved wood shutters surrounded the windows. Between the buildings, strings of lights swayed in the wind, their glow dim and inconsistent against the gray sky.

A cluster of children darted past, trailing ribbons of woven grass behind them. Their shouts echoed off the buildings, too fast for her to follow despite her studies. The scent of woodsmoke drifted from stone chimneys, mixing with unfamiliar spices that made her empty stomach clench.

The village felt like stepping into an illustration from one of Earth’s ancient history books—beautiful, but foreign. No gleaming metal, no synthetic materials, no familiar corporate logos. Just wood, stone, and cloth, crafted by hand into something both primitive and elegant with very few signs of the crystal technology other than the flickering strings of lights.

As she looked around she rubbed her arms, trying to warm herself. Back home, she’d spent most of her life being shunted from one of the vast apartment complexes to another. Here, the buildings spread out with room to breathe, and yet, as charming as it was, it felt as lonely and isolated as those crowded buildings had. If the inhabitants were like her escorts, they would be just as tall and broad and intimidating. And just as reluctant to have her here. She’d been an unwelcome burden her whole life. What was going to be different now?

The driver barked something to his companion, then nodded impatiently for her to follow them as they headed for a large building to one side of the square. A gust of wind cut through her layers, and she huddled deeper into the borrowed furs as she followed them. Even her bones felt frozen now, and the cold seeped deeper into the marrow.

There was a large building at one end of the square with a paved area in front of it. Several males were lounging on stone benches surrounding a fire pit in the center of the area, and her escorts headed directly towards them. Other people had been bustling around the square, but they stopped when she passed, whispering comments she couldn’t quite hear. The weight of their stares prickled across her skin.

The Frostarii by the fire pit rose to their feet when they saw the new arrivals, giving her a curious look.

“You are required to provide food and shelter for this human,” her driver announced, sparking an immediate protest. Unfortunately she could understand them all too well.

“Why the hell do we have to take in a stranger?” an older male demanded.

“Because the NorPol ruling council told the Federation they’d take one of the refugee ships,” her driver said impatiently. “Not my idea but it’s my job to parcel them out.”

“Just where does the Federation think we’re going to put her?”

“The power grid barely supports us as it is,” a female protested, and more complaints followed.

“We can’t spare the energy rations.”

“We don’t have room.”

“The last thing we need is an extra mouth to feed. It’s not as if she could do anything useful.”

She started to protest that she was willing to work, then decided it was pointless, huddling further into her furs. The villagers wore thick, brightly colored wool clothing, untroubled by the cold. Many of the males even wore open vests, displaying elaborate red tattoos across their chests.

A heavyset female with gray-streaked braids pointed toward a long narrow building to one side of the square. “Maybe we could convert part of that?”

“Too cold without proper heating,” another replied. “And we need the space for winter stores.”

The discussion continued, voices rising and falling as they debated her fate like she was cargo to be stored. Each suggestion met with practical concerns—not enough power, not enough space, not enough resources—and her shoulders started to slump under the familiar weight of being unwanted. Even across the galaxy, nothing changed.

No. She straightened her spine and lifted her chin, refusing to give into despair. She’d survived the years of foster care, the death of her world, and the cramped refugee ship. She would survive this too.

A tall male who’d been leaning against the wall sauntered towards them. He might have been handsome if it hadn’t been for his smirk—cruel as a knife’s edge. She disliked him immediately.

“Why not give her to Rudi?” he asked, his voice mocking. “He’s got the space, and it’s not like he’s got anything better to do with it.”

The name rippled through the gathering. She watched their reactions—sideways glances, shifted feet, a few nervous laughs.

“Hell, the glowing freak might appreciate some company,” the male continued, giving her a derisive look. “Even if it is an unwanted refugee.”

Heat rushed to her cheeks. She was used to hearing that word applied to herself. Unwanted. Unloved. But it still hurt.

“Are you crazy, Blitzer?” someone called from the crowd. “He won’t want her.”

Blitzer’s laugh held no warmth. “Who cares what he wants? The government says we have to house her—they didn’t say where. Might as well dump her with the outcast and get her out of our way.”

Her fingers dug into her bag strap. An outcast? Her throat tightened with unexpected empathy. She’d been an outsider her entire life—on Earth, on the refugee ship, and now here. She knew only too well what it was like.

“Come on,” Blitzer said. “I’ll show you the way.”

Her escorts glanced at each other, then shrugged and nodded. Several of the villagers gave her worried looks but no one voiced any further objections. Her stomach sank as Blitzer immediately started to lead them down a narrow street and out of the village. The path wound through the trees, their branches reaching like gnarled fingers across the steel-gray sky.

Her boots sank into the untouched snow, and her teeth chattered. A low branch scraped against her face and she stumbled, falling to her knees and dropping her bag. One of the escorts reached for her arm and pulled her to her feet, but his fingers were as cold as the wind.

“Come on, female. Hurry up,” he grumbled.

A building finally appeared through the trees. Unlike the village’s cheerful cottages, this dwelling was plain, unadorned stone, presenting a blank face to the world. Even the shutters were closed over the windows, but at least light seeped through the gaps and a plume of smoke rose from the chimney.

“There’s the freak’s den,” Blitzer said contemptuously as he gestured toward the house with a sharp jerk of his chin.

Her stomach knotted as she drew closer, and she tried to distract herself by studying the house. Despite the plain facade, the basic lines were strong and graceful. Crystalline formations sprouted from the roof like frozen flowers, catching what little sunlight filtered through the clouds.

What kind of person was Rudi? Why did he live out here on his own? The villagers were clearly uncomfortable with him but she’d seen how fear turned people against anything different. She hugged herself tighter, fingers digging into her arms. Despite her earlier flash of sympathy, what if she found herself trapped with someone who disliked her presence as much as the villagers seemed to dislike his?

Blitzer hammered impatiently on the door. For a painfully long moment there was no reply, but just as Blitzer raised his fist again, the door swung open.

Her breath caught in her throat. A huge Frostarii filled the doorway, his golden skin catching the weak sunlight. Her gaze traveled up his powerful frame to the crown of antlers that sprouted from his head. They caught and refracted light in mesmerizing patterns, almost as if they were lit from within.

“What do you want?”

His voice was deeper than she expected, a low melodic note that shivered down her spine.

Blitzer sneered at him.

“Government orders. You’re to house this human refugee.”

His frown deepened and for a second his antlers seemed to flicker—a brief pulse of light that vanished so quickly she wondered if she’d imagined it.

Rudi didn’t respond immediately, but she noticed the slight tension in his shoulders, the way his fingers curled against the doorframe. He was as uncomfortable with this situation as she was.

She forced herself to look up and meet his eyes. They were unlike anything she’d seen before—deep pools of amber surrounded by thick dark lashes. The intensity of his gaze made her shiver, but not from fear. Something passed between them as their eyes met, an unexpected flash of recognition.

Her heart hammered against her ribs as she waited for him to speak. Despite his imposing presence and the villagers’ obvious caution, she didn’t feel threatened. Instead, she felt a strange pull toward him, like the magnetic tug of true north.

After what seemed like an eternity, his gaze dropped from her face to the bag slung over her shoulder and he finally gave a terse nod.

“She can stay,” he said gruffly, then stepped back, gesturing for her to enter.

As she passed by, his arm brushed lightly against her, a fleeting touch that sent sparks dancing along her nerves. As soon as she stepped inside, he slammed the door behind her.