'LOKI' UPDATE: Fourth Chapter of 'Winter's Pursuit [Jotun Loki]' is now available. Here's a sneak peek:
Sigyn’s attention was drawn to one of the flowers. The golden light of the sun had not yet illuminated this starburst’s face. This caused the princess to frown as she made her way toward it along the bank. With each footstep forward, her toes tingled with the cold of the fine stones on the riverbank. The princess drew her hands along the base of the plant, trying to bend it slightly in the sun, but it would go but a small distance.
There appeared to be something growing on it. Sigyn frowned. A disease? Hesitant at first, she brushed her thumb against it and gasped at what she felt. Ice? That was impossible. There was no winter in Vanaheim. She put her palm on it, concentrating on melting it with her temperature, but it did nothing. In fact, when she drew her hand away, she saw that it had started to spread. She pulled her hand away from the stem as the entire thing turned to frost: the long, pointed petals of the starbursts becoming transparent and fragile as icicles. She stumbled back as the ice disease grew. It turned to bitter, frozen ground where each of its roots were grown. The soft, russet leaves in the soil turned sharp and pointed. Other flowers, once blossoming in the sun, turned to shapes like snowflakes.
Sigyn started to run. A cry of distress broke from her lips as she ran, calling for the guards. She slipped as the ground beneath her turned to frost and she fell hard, the impact winding her. Cheeks red, she struggled to draw air back into her lungs. She glanced at the edge of the fjord. She knew. She knew it was there. Waiting for her. Screams were ripped from her lungs so harshly that she tasted blood in the back of her throat. It wanted her.
Not again, Sigyn’s heart thundered. No! No, please!
She could see nothing from the frozen foliage except two red eyes. Glossy like a hunting jungle cat.