Runespell: Legends and Lore

By Sela Carsen

In most fairy tales, the prince rescues the princess. It's not often she gets to return the favor. 

Mai Westenra is pulled into a centuries-old quest for vengeance and magic, never realizing that she'll find love in the midst of danger. 

Tyr Halvarsson has waited lifetimes to be rid of his curse. Resigned to his immortal half-life, one selfless act of humanity can redeem him. Or kill him. 

Together, Mai and Tyr must work against time and magic to perform the runespell that will save their lives and give them a chance at love that lasts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mondarbre Press
• Release date: Aug 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781516391103

Sela Carsen

Sela Carsen is a busy wife and mom of two teens who frequently finds her best time to write is when she ought to be sleeping. Born in Texas and raised globally, she now lives in the Midwest with her family, including her mother and their Boxer, Oliver. She's been writing since 2002 when those first words were written in the steam on the shower door. She soon found a more durable format and has been writing ever since.

Book preview

Runespell

In most fairy tales, the prince rescues the princess. It's not often she gets to return the favor. 

Mai Westenra is pulled into a centuries-old quest for vengeance and magic, never realizing that she'll find love in the midst of danger. 

Tyr Halvarsson has waited lifetimes to be rid of his curse. Resigned to his immortal half-life, one selfless act of humanity can redeem him. Or kill him. 

Together, Mai and Tyr must work against time and magic to perform the runespell that will save their lives and give them a chance at love that lasts.

RUNESPELL

by Sela Carsen

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2015 Mondarbre Press

Cover design: Ravenborn Covers (http://www.selfpubbookcovers.com/Ravenborn)

Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the author.

CHAPTER ONE

Mai Westenra had abandoned conscious thought a few miles back when she realized they were trying to kill her. Now she drove her car up the rutted mountain road by sheer muscle memory while her brain was stuck on a refrain of Ohgodohgodohgod. Behind her, the giant black SUV prodded at her bumper again. They'd been playing this game for a while now, not hitting her hard enough to make her wreck, but just enough to terrify her.

It was working.

She yanked the car back in the right direction, sliding on the snow-covered ice, sickeningly aware of her options. On her left, the unforgiving face of sheer rock had been hewn away to make the road. On her right, a steep drop down to Little Sun Creek, still high and fast despite the deep winter cold, rimed with snowy slush.

She wasn't going to get out of this alive.

As if that was the key, her mind unlocked from its panicked rut. And as if the drivers of the SUV felt her acceptance, they quit playing. Their next hit was hard enough to spin her sideways, jamming her door up against their front grill. She looked up at them through their windshield and saw unyielding faces of rough stone. Then she was spinning away, watching the landscape flash shadow and red light in the fading sun. Mai threw her arms over her head as the exploding airbag filled her vision, and she felt herself fly over the edge of the road, not knowing if she was up or down.

It didn't matter anymore.

I'm sorry, she said, wishing she'd taken the time to call her brother today, to talk to her best friend, to tell her parents she loved them one last time. Too late. A loud crash and a shocking pain slammed through her, followed by a rush of icy water flowing over her face.

I'm sorry.

***

Tyr Halvarsson stood and watched as two cars sped recklessly down the icy road below him. The vehicles shouldn't have been here. The no-name road they traveled should have been blocked off months ago, before the first storm of winter had closed the pass. A moment of inattention, even on dry roads in good weather, would put an inattentive driver face to face with death out here in the wild. Foolish humans. He snorted, steam rising from his nose in