The Hearthbound

By Brian R. Smith

To the skalds, Haldor is the king's greatest warrior-the commander whose victories have filled royal storehouses, broken rival kingdoms, and bound the western fjords beneath one rule.

To Haldor, every campaign is simply one more price paid for the life he truly wants: his wife Ragnhild, their children, and the warm hall at Havnholm.

King Audun promises him freedom after one final duty.

A hidden resistance known as the Hearthbound has begun striking royal ships, freeing captives, and moving weapons through routes known only to the king's most trusted men. Worse, some of the stolen iron bears the mark of Haldor's own household.

Ordered to destroy the rebellion, Haldor follows its trail through burned settlements, secret roads, divided loyalties, and the names of people his victories erased. Each discovery leads him closer to the one place he never believed he would have to investigate.

Home.

Ragnhild has always been the keeper of everything gentle in his life-the loving wife who waits through every winter, raises their children, tends his wounds, and reminds him that he is more than the violence done in his name. But Havnholm contains secrets built from the silver, weapons, captives, and craftsmen Haldor sent home from war.

And Ketil, the orphan Haldor raised as his own son, has begun awakening memories of the first kingdom Haldor ever destroyed.

When loyalty to his king demands the surrender of his wife and child, Haldor must decide whether honor lies in keeping the oath that made him powerful-or breaking it to protect the people who have shown him what his victories truly cost.

Set in a fictional realm of ninth-century Norway, The Hearthbound is an epic historical novel of war, marriage, fatherhood, rebellion, and the terrible distance between serving honor and choosing what is right.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0H9P2WQ5M
• ISBN13: 9798188206536
• Release Date: July 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 338 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"