Anya Bast

Cross-posted from Between Fire and Ice.

In one week, Embrace of the Damned will release. Broder Calderson has written a letter of introduction to you.

Dear Reader ~

My name is Broder Calderson and I was once a Viking. I have lived for over a thousand years, most of them under the sadistic control of Loki, the trickiest and cruelest of the Norse gods. Loki stabbed a sliver of demon through my soul in punishment for my sins. It is a dark part of me I must always keep under control. Loki imprisons me through the sliver, along with other men, as warriors in a fight to prevent Ragnarök, an apocalypse for the gods. We are the Brotherhood of the Damned.

It’s not like I didn’t deserve punishment for what I did. My damning was born on a bloody night when I became something other than myself, a berserker of old, cutting down all those in my path. For that crime, I deserved death. Instead I got the never ending torment of eternal life and enslavement.

My advice to you, never offend the Norse gods.

I thought my suffering couldn’t get worse, but then Loki decided to “reward” me. A thousand years to the day of my punishment, he unlocked my chains and allowed me a woman. Not just any woman. Jessamine Hamilton is the single most perfect creature to have ever walked the earth. With an attitude to rival any Viking female and curves sweet enough to make an immortal warrior cry, she’s the one person in centuries able to bring me to my knees and make me surrender to my darkest impulses.

With Jessa, I see a future for myself, the first one I’ve seen for a thousand years that’s worth living for. Before her, I only desired death. Yet our time is limited. Loki can yank on my chain whenever he chooses. For now I enjoy my time with Jessa, even though she drives me insane with lust. I try not to think about the time I’ll have to let her go. No thought could be more painful.

And it’s not just our limited time together that’s a concern. Loki never does anything that doesn’t cause chaos and Jessamine is no exception. She is much more than the human woman she appears to be. Her secrets run deep and the danger they cause run even deeper. I will be forced to return to my brutal Viking ways to protect her.

Sincerely, Broder