The Curse of the Bloodwood

By Heather Carter

A witch's servant...

A forbidden love...

Until the hedge falls.

Lilia, a young fae lady from the Moonstone Court, stumbles upon a witch's dell and is trapped there by a giant, magical hedge.

Being forced to serve a grumpy old witch is terrible, but she finds companionship in the form of Pandrus, young man who's stone by day, handsome gardener by night. When the hedge falls, Lilia is faced with the choice between her freedom ... or her heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Heather Carter
• Release date: Jun 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798886801194

Heather Carter

Heather Carter is an independent fiction author who writes primarily adult fantasy and fantasy romance. Her novel, Of Songs and Saltwater, a loose, gender-swapped retelling of The Little Mermaid was released in June of 2021, and she has been featured in multiple anthologies since. She has written several other novels that are in her publishing pipeline. (Look for those soon!) Heather calls the St. Louis area home, and lives with her husband, two children and one extremely spoiled cat. (What writer doesn’t?) When she’s not writing, she loves to read fantasy novels, make music, and drinks way too much coffee.

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Heather Carter

The Curse of the Bloodwood

Copyright © 2022 by Heather Carter

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Heather Carter asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Originally published in Midwinter Tales of the Gemstone Courts: A Fae Romance Anthology By Pulse Design and Publishing.

Cover Illustration and Design Copyright © 2022 Heather Carter. Completed by GetCovers.com

First edition

ISBN: 979-8-88680-119-4

This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy

Find out more at reedsy.com

For those who believe in the magic of love.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Also by Heather Carter

Chapter 1

Chapter Separator

Rain pelted my face, mingling with cold tears as I fled for my life.

My scarlet cloak trailed behind me like a wash of blood upon the undergrowth. I was too visible in the green canvas of Tillwood Forest, and miles from the palace of the Moonstone Court. Quickly, I unclasped my cloak with my rope-bound hands and let it fall behind me. An emerald-colored gown would be far less conspicuous in the gray light of day.

Shouts carried on the wind, bringing fresh spirals of ice dancing around my spine. I dared to turn, locks of pale blond hair whipping across my cheek. Two figures moved through the trees in the distance, searching for me. Coachmen turned captors. I’d awoken from their poison, untied my feet, and leaped from the moving carriage. Now, I was running through the forest like a hunted stag.

Something capped the tree line at the top of the rise ahead. A low stone wall stretched in either direction as far as I could see. My heart dropped. The end of my cover. Maybe the end of everything. The voices were close enough it would be impossible to backtrack now. So, with burning legs and bursting lungs, I stumbled my way up the hill until I reached the wall.

There she is! shouted a rough voice.

Give it up, little rabbit! You’ll never escape!

I threw myself upon the wall and tumbled off the other side. With a shriek, I fell a short distance onto the ground beyond and started rolling. The world was a dizzy swirl of fragrant grass until my back met with something solid.

Groaning in pain, I opened my eyes. A great canopy of green leaves soared above me. An enormous oak had stopped my whirling tumble.

More shouts reached my ears. Snapping my attention to the right, I saw the wall at the top of the hill. At any moment, my captors would leap over it, and I’d be in their grasp soon after. My limbs shook from fatigue and fear. The pounding in my chest echoed in my head. The tree was a lone tower, midway down a grassy slope. There was nowhere to hide quickly.

Pushing myself to my feet, I was about to turn and flee farther down the hill when I saw the first man appear on the other side of the wall. A tall brute with a menacing scowl. His shorter though equally cruel companion soon joined him. They still wore their fine livery with the crest of the Moonstone Court on the lapel. It put an acrid feeling in my stomach to see the symbol of pride and safety upon the breast of men who meant me harm.

The moment their gazes fell on me, I knew it was hopeless. But I would not go down without clawing their eyes out and kicking their stomachs in. Gritting my teeth, I opened my mouth to roar at them, only to have my voice snatched away by a more terrifying sight.

A new wall sprang up over the stone, pushing from the earth in a rapid swell that towered into the sky. Not a wall of stone, but a brown, gnarled hedge, with vines as thick as tree trunks and thorns like swords. It rose higher and higher, stretching in each direction. The ground quaked and thundered, mingling with the anguished cries of the coachmen. The massive thorns, having impaled them clean through, lifted their bodies with the hedge.

Backing up against the tree, I beheld the terror with wide eyes. My body felt like lead. Unable to move, unable to scream,

Reviews for The Curse of the Bloodwood

[Adrian Vogel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this. It was a lot of story to pack into 74 pages. I could see how this could be extended into a full length novel but it was quite filling on its own.