The Sea & the Stag Horn

By H.F Day

When the Sea Turns and the Dead Rise, the Only Thing Left Is Each Other

ARRANGED MARRIAGE - FRIENDS-TO-LOVERS - NORSE-INSPIRED ROMANTASY - HAUNTED HALL - MAGIC & GHOSTS

She didn't choose him. Her father did. Anya, princess of Alfheim and wielder of the Vanir-blessed sword Sumarbrander, has spent centuries as the god Freyr's trusted servant; fearless, fiercely independent, and deeply unwilling to be anyone's instrument. When her father, Sk rnir, arranges her marriage to her childhood friend Rathuell without her knowledge or consent, Anya's fury is matched only by her grief: he is the one man she cannot bring herself to hate.

Rathuell, a seidr-smith who has loved Anya since they were children climbing trees together, knows he made a mistake letting her father act first. He can forge magic into iron, but he cannot forge her trust. All he can offer is a note slid under her door: I will never accept anything from you that isn't freely given.

Neither of them is given time to untangle their feelings. A J tunn blood-debt demands they travel to the haunted shores of J tunheim, where Gymi, lord of the giants and father to Freyr's own wife, claims the god killed his son Beli and left an unpaid wergild. As their ship draws near the black-stone coast, the sea turns wrong. A horn calls from somewhere beneath the water. And on the beach, the dead begin to walk.

To settle the blood-debt, survive Gymir's fractured hall, and stop the draugr rising from the tide, Anya and Rathuell must work side-by-side, guarding each other's backs, sharing warmth against the cold, and slowly learning that the hardest thing isn't fighting the dead. It's admitting what they've always felt for the living.

The Sea & The Stag Horn is a slow-burn friends-to-lovers fantasy novella rooted in authentic Norse mythology, Eddic lore, and the ritual law of the Viking Age. It is a companion story to the Leifthasir's Saga series and can be read as a standalone.

For readers who love: Myth-rich Norse fantasy with historical depthForced proximity and slow-burn romanceHeroines who don't need savingPolitical marriages, blood-feuds, and the weight of old oathsAtmospheric horror threaded through intimate character dramaA Norse-inspired romantasy novella set in the world of Leifthasir. Includes open-door romantic scenes.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GJJY11WL
• ISBN13: 9798245285207
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"