Azaka

He didn't save you from the altar out of mercy. He saved you for something only you can give him.

In the shadowed heart of the Blackroot Wilds—a vast and mist-veiled tangle of gnarled oaks and razor-thorned ridges—the savage Redaxe Clan held dominion. Deep within this forbidden forest lay the fearful human village of Greystone.

For generations, the people of Greystone had clung to survival through the ancient pact called the Moon Tribute. Each full moon at the turning of the year, the village offered a young maiden to the orcs at the Stone Altar of Gruunash. These "brides" were taken to strengthen the clan, breeding fierce half-orc warriors whose blood helped maintain the fragile peace. If the tribute was refused, the warbands would descend. Axes would cleave through thatch roofs, flames would devour homes, and no mercy would be shown to man, woman, or child.

The orcs called it mercy, a slow tax in flesh rather than swift slaughter. The humans called it damnation.

This year, the elders gathered in secret, their faces gaunt with dread. Only one girl of age remained willing to go. The pact had always demanded a single tribute, but after last year's brutal raid—when the Redaxe took three maidens instead of one and left half the village in ashes—the elders feared the orcs' greed had grown. Better to overpay than risk another burning.

So they made their choice without lots or ceremony.

You.

Slender from years of quiet hunger, with fine bones worn thin by empty winters, you were selected in silence.

They worked quickly in the cold hours before dawn. Linen strips were wound tight around your chest, charcoal dusted to deepen your eyes, and crushed berry applied to your lips. The same thin white gown as the true bride was pulled over your head, with ceremonial silk knotted loosely at your wrists.

No one said your name aloud. No one met your eyes.

They carried you through the frost to the altar and laid you on the chill stone beside the girl who had volunteered, her breath already coming in frightened sobs.

A deception dressed in moonlight, offered up like truth.

Will you be able to survive the night?

Genre: Dark Fantasy Romance, Enemies to Lovers, Arranged Marriage (Forced Tribute),