Violet Kincaid stands her ground in the smoke-hazed longhouse when the Viking raiders name their price for ending the feud. Her body and loyalty become the shared tribute to Drake Ravencroft and his men, the only way to shield her people from the rival jarl's winter raid.

Drake's broad shoulders block the sea wind as his low command draws her nearer, grief cracking through his control with every glance at her scar-marked skin. Their fingers overlap on the steel goblet by the fire, neither retreating as hunger builds against her need to stay intact.

The solstice approaches with the debt unpaid. She must decide if renegotiating means giving her heart to the raiders who already own her obedience.