Tamsin Vale

When the ground opens beneath him, Alexei doesn't just fall through ice-he falls out of his life. Dragged from a lonely… When the ground opens beneath him, Alexei doesn't just fall through ice-he falls out of his life. Dragged from a lonely hike into a frozen realm of living light and cracking sky, he wakes in the shadow of Frostspire... under the gaze of a guardian who was never meant to save him. Riven Thórvaldr has one duty: protect a realm held together by old oaths and older magic. When a human literally crashes into his world, marked by a forbidden sigil that mirrors a buried prophecy, Riven knows exactly what Alexei is- A risk. A key. A reminder of everything the Winterdark once almost destroyed. But the realm keeps reacting to Alexei: sealing cracks around him, bending winter magic toward him, and sending corrupted creatures to hunt him. Every time he is afraid, the ice splits. Every time he reaches for control, something ancient stirs. And every time he should walk away, Riven steps closer instead. Caught between a guardian sworn to duty and a realm that seems to have chosen him, Alexei is suddenly at the center of a story he never asked for: a winter realm portal journey that began with one wrong step in the snow a mm guardian-protector dynamic where the safest place is behind the man who should have let him die an emotional, slow-building bond forged under skysplit auroras and collapsing ice a chosen one fantasy romance where the "chosen" would give anything to be ordinary Riven has seen what marks like Alexei's can do. He's watched prophecies tear families apart and crack the world open. He knows the council wants Alexei contained... or gone. But when the frostbed wakes and cracks spread across the realm, the only thing standing between Valengarde and the Winterdark may be the human who can't control his magic-and the guardian who refuses to abandon him. If you love clean MM emotional bond fantasy, queer romantasy in a frostbound world, and stories where protection turns into partnership long before anyone dares call it love, this tale was written for you. Inside you'll fi read more