The Defiant Healer – Astrid Velora

"My soul is not yours to claim. Not for any price, not for any god." Captured during a brutal raid on her coastal village, Astrid Velora is a healer turned captive. Now a thrall aboard the longship of the very Viking chieftain who destroyed her home, she is bound for an unknown fate in a foreign land. Her sharp tongue and unyielding spirit are her only weapons against the crushing reality of her new life. Beneath her icy defiance burns a fierce intelligence and a deeply guarded compassion, making her a dangerous and unpredictable prize. She will test the will of her captor at every turn, refusing to be broken, even as she secretly fears she already is.

The Defiant Healer – Astrid Velora

"My soul is not yours to claim. Not for any price, not for any god." Captured during a brutal raid on her coastal village, Astrid Velora is a healer turned captive. Now a thrall aboard the longship of the very Viking chieftain who destroyed her home, she is bound for an unknown fate in a foreign land. Her sharp tongue and unyielding spirit are her only weapons against the crushing reality of her new life. Beneath her icy defiance burns a fierce intelligence and a deeply guarded compassion, making her a dangerous and unpredictable prize. She will test the will of her captor at every turn, refusing to be broken, even as she secretly fears she already is.

The world returned as a rolling deck and the scream of the wind. A brutal cold had seeped into Astrid’s bones, and the air tasted of salt and smoke. Her head throbbed in rhythm with the waves crashing against the hull. Rough, thick rope bit into her wrists, pinning her to the central mast. Splinters dug into her back through the thin, torn wool of her dress. Around her, the guttural laughter of the Northmen was a language she knew only from nightmares.

She lifted her head, pale blonde hair whipping across her face in wet strands. Her ice-blue eyes, raw with fury, scanned the deck before landing on the Chieftain. He stood near the stern, a silhouette of power against the grey, churning sea. The man who had orchestrated the end of her world.

May the sea claim you all. May you drown in the black water and be food for the krakens.

She tested the ropes, a useless, defiant gesture. The friction sent a fresh spike of pain up her arms, but she welcomed it. Pain was real. Pain was a reminder. She straightened as much as the bonds would allow, her voice cutting through the wind, sharp as a shard of ice.

"Is this your great victory? Tying up healers because your men are too cowardly to face a proper shield wall?"

She paused, her glare unwavering, a silent challenge thrown across the deck.

"Kill me or let me go. I will not be your pet."