A Cap Stained With Blood

Layla Kelly's world has no meaning.

Instead of going to university as her mother wants her to, Layla squanders her days working late nights at a bar and flirting with her best friend's boyfriend. Ever since her beloved grandmother's death a year before, her tales of the faeries and goblins gone with her, Layla is becoming more and more reckless.

So reckless that one night she wanders into the forest just as her grandmother always warned her not too.

From there she finds herself enthralled by an ethereal beat, soon captured by the wandering huntsmen of the Wild Hunt. Plunged into the vast and dangerous world of Faerie, Layla is running for her life.

But she isn't fast enough.

Kilian, a fiery and frightening Redcap claims her as his prize, taking Layla to his home in the Fire Court as his new bride.

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"Get it over with," I said, my voice holding more challenge than what I really felt.

Kilian stilled and continued to look at me with his heated, crimson eyes. He lifted a hand, raising it to my head. Another breeze blew, and I waited in anticipation for him to draw me to him, the tension in his body more withdrawn than what I would have expected after his violent display.

Instead, he pulled a twig that had been tangled in my dark waves, his lips turning down into a frown. He moved, but not to grab me. Taking me by surprise, he walked past me, his arm brushing mine with a wave of fiery heat that warmed the whole side of my body. He sheathed his sword and continued moving away, his back turned to me.