Please enjoy the first post of the updated version of Snow Maiden with author notes, as published on Ream Stories and now appearing here in the Monsters & Mystics readers’ lair!
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Blurb
A commoner and the outcast of her village...Nika is forced to flee her home to keep the dark secret of her birth. When she is hunted by a rugged Northman, she finds herself lost in a land of spells and curses. His kisses start to melt her cold, lonely heart, her secrets are laid bare and she finds herself in a magic war for the man and the kingdom she loves.
King of a cursed and ravaged kingdom...when Vasilli first lays eyes on Nika stealing bread at a fair, he knows he has to have the fair haired beauty. The legends surrounding his lands tell of a snow maiden who will break the curse of the Northern Kingdom but he wants Nika for his own.
From a land of winter, ice and snow comes a tale of enchantment and romance. Mages and sorceresses, omens and curses - this spellbinding grownup fairytale is a story of magic in an ancient land and a legendary love that will heat up even the coldest winter night.
Snow Maiden is a stand alone, fantasy romance novella inspired by the Russian fairytale, The Snow Maiden and characters from the Nutcracker Ballet.
An Enchanted Lands Romance
Snow Maiden
Amanda V. Shane
Copyright © 2017 Amanda V. Shane
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, redistributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, print, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Author except in brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is coincidental.
Editing by WV Edits
Cover Design by Ravenborn
Dedication
In loving memory of Grandma Lola – a lover of stories written, seen and sung.
Prologue
It was long ago...
… that in a land of winter’s tales, beyond the forest and the world we mortals know as ordinary, a maiden lived with hair of snow white gold, eyes of shining blue, and lips to shame the blood red rose. The daughter of a powerful sorceress and a human man, she was her mother’s heart. When the girl’s father went the way all men do, into eternal sleep, she became the queen’s one and only comfort. Being half mortal, she grew only to maidenhood, her years halted by her mother’s magic. The sorceress desired for the girl to never leave and to never know about the human world.
And so the mother created a winter land of wonder’s beauty to delight her child and keep her content. But as all girls do, the maid grew curious about the world outside her beautiful home. She wished to explore beyond the glitter of diamond snow.
Sneaking away one dark and starry night, she made it out from under her mother’s watchful eye, and was amazed by all she found. It was a wonder to her—the world and its people. Being young and very beautiful, she soon caught the eye of a handsome young man. Of course, she fell in love with him and he with her. When this occurred, the maid’s fragile heart, set in time by magic and cold, began to melt.
Before the sorceress could act, to save her fair daughter, the girl was tragically gone.
Heartbroken, the sorceress cursed the land of that human place that had so cruelly taken her only child from her. No game were ever seen there from that day forward, and its kingdoms stayed always at war. Even still more harrowing, no fair-haired children were ever born there again.
From then on, the legend of that region held that no person should dare wander into the sorceress’s forest. In her wrath, she would send forth a blizzard, causing any who disturbed her to lose their way and be trapped in her castle of snow and ice for all time.
Chapter One
Nika had to leave her grandmother’s home. She’d barely had time to mourn her deceased guardian, the strong, kind, old woman who’d been her soul protector and her only friend. But, now, the villagers were coming for her and she must go.
While alive, her grandmother held the townspeople at bay, shielding the illegitimate child of her only daughter from them, time and time again. When Nika’s mother, Elaini, had died, rumors raced through the village that Nika’s father had caused it. But there were always rumors about Nika and her mother, and they were always vicious.
It was said that Elaini had fornicated with a warlock—a demon of the forest—and born him a child, thus cursing the village. It hadn’t helped that the child bore the flaxen down hair, fair skin, and bright blue eyes associated with that particular spirit of the woods. Nor did it bode well for her when, that very same year, the land was beset with a string of severe storms and, later, a pack of hungry wolves had ventured into the town.
Elaini died that winter, while Nika was still an infant.
The poor young mother had barely been laid to rest when the town elders came to her grandmother’s door.
“This curse must be broken, Yula.” Their leader had said. “The child is unnatural!”
“There is nothing unnatural about my granddaughter!” Yula yelled back at them, forcing them to leave.
As the village healer, the elders respected her. They kept their distance from the child, not pressing the matter further after that night. Still, they remained wary and suspicious of her, a behavior that never waned. During her growing-up years, Nika endured the stigma of an outcast. She never had friends besides Yula. Anytime she played or worked outside, she could hear the taunts of the village children as they dared each other to run past her home.
“Witch,” they’d say. “Warlock’s daughter. Devil’s spawn!”
Those years made up a lonely existence for the girl with the corn silk hair. But she’d had her grandmother’s love. She spent countless hours learning herbs and healing at Yula’s knee, the old woman’s attention and care growing her into a beautiful young woman. Some of the happiest memories Nika had were of listening to her grandmother tell the old stories—tales of the north gods and magic. Yula, a master at storytelling, sometimes recited these tales with great flourish, other times she sang them as ballads. Either way, little girl Nika drifted off into a world of adventure whenever she heard them. Now the old woman was gone. Nika had no more stories and no more protection.
They came for her again, the men of the village. The light of their torches blazed through her window, their stomping feet hit hard on the path leading up to her door. She barely had time to dress before they started yelling.
“Come out, witch!” They demanded.
Their din of voices grew to a clamor as they pounded on her rickety door.
Slipping out the back, Nika ran into the woods unseen. Out in the dark, beside the stream that ran behind her grandmother’s hut, she watched as the only home she’d ever known and all of her earthly belongings went up in a smoke-filled blaze.
*Note from Amanda: I based Nika's character on a mash up of Snegurochka, of Russian fairy tale lore, and the Snow Queen character from the Nutcracker ballet. The snow scene is my all time favorite part of that ballet and I always thought that the queen of that land of ice and fairies needed her own origin story.
I love scenic winter scapes! I find them incredibly beautiful. Do you have any favorite cold weather tales or folk characters?
Okay, I'm hooked! I really enjoyed reading this. There is no fluff, only essential details and beautiful descriptions!