CHAPTER 1
The twisted horns weighed down Brygida’s head as she drew the cottage door shut, careful not to make a sound. With the size as great as a stag’s antlers, there was no avoiding a little heaviness, but she’d hollowed out the twigs she’d used. The lejiń demon’s costume would appease Weles tonight, or so she hoped.
In the night’s cloak, her breath bloomed in the wintry air. She tugged her voluminous bear fur closer, securing it with a clawed belt over her good dress. As the year turned further toward its end, the cold greedily devoured more and more of each day. And tonight, there was no more left of warmth but a gnawed bone, chilled to the marrow.
The dark winter woods rested in silence tonight, even its apparitions haunting the withered undergrowth in eerie quiet. The reverent o
