COMING SOON!
Greetings, my Midnight Romantics!
I'm dropping into let you know that, if you've read Darkborn Origins (which is from Sylas's POV), I have three new short stories coming to you. Each story follows the same timeline, but it's from a different Darkborn's POV. As you can see, you'll get Lucian, Thorne, and Arless. Thorne and Arless are ready, and I'm currently drafting Lucian's story now.
Since I've finished writing Bloodborn (book one) and Soulbound (book two), and I'm starting on Fatesworn (book three), it felt like the right time to delve back into the beginning and remind myself where each of these Darkborn came from and how their journey's started.
I'm hoping to have these out in February, but I'll keep you posted.
These stories will be available here in my bookshop at $0.99 each, OR free for all paid subscribers with a $5 and up membership.
If you haven't read Origins, the original from Sylas's POV, you can snag a free copy here: https://scarletstjames.com/products/origins-a-darkborn-saga-prequel-ebook
You can peruse memberships in my After Dark Reader Lounge here: https://scarletstjames.com/pages/after-dark-lounge
💋 Scarlet
Your Darkborn journey continues...
🕯 Welcome, my Midnight Romantics.
You have read the Darkborn Origins, now cross the threshold into the land of darkness and tattered souls.
You watched Sylas, Lucian, Arless, and Thorne die. You watched them accept Hel's bargain. You heard the Wolf's last words: "...and when I wake, I'm starving."
But you did not see what came next.
I am Bryanna Thorvold, Archivist of the Forsaken, keeper of the surviving scrolls recovered from the Lorekeepers of the First Blood. What you are about to read are fragments from the Darkborn awakening.
On the first night, seventeen mortals died in Rockhavn. The draugr—as the terrified villagers called them—moved faster than any mortal, their eyes unnatural, their skin blazing with runes. No weapon could stop them. No prayer could save the innocent.
Hel watched from the edge of the mortal plane. "Balance will come once they are fed," she told Loki, god of chaos and mischief.
But balance did not come.
The Wolf knelt in blood-soaked snow, nearly lost to the hunger. Thorne's laughter turned to retching as he stared at what he'd done. Arless froze among the carnage. Lucian stared at his hands as if they belonged to someone else.
Hel's champions—the Protectors of the North—had become the very monsters their people prayed for protection against.
And as the nights stretched on, each learned a terrible truth: feeding was not enough. Balance required something more. Something they could not—would not—give.
These fragments are what remains. Incomplete and, most importantly, forbidden.
Choose your descent, Midnight Romantic. But know this: once you enter the Darkborn realm, an addictive, soul-stirring world awaits.
🕯 Fragment I: The Wolf Leader of the Darkborn. Protector.
🕯 Fragment II: The Defender Rage incarnate. Grief-hollowed.
🕯 Fragment III: The Warden of the North Backbone of the broken.
🕯 Fragment IV: The Quiet Hand Pattern-seer. Self-punishing.
The Darkborn Saga awakens Summer 2026.
For early access, collector editions, and forbidden glimpses behind the veil, visit ScarletStJames.com.
Fragment II: Thorne - The Defender
From the Lorekeepers of the First Blood
Translated by Bryanna Thorvold, Archivist of the Forsaken
He stands in the ruins where his wife burned.
Crowsgate. Weather-ravaged. Soot-covered. The alehouse with its caved-in roof and oak doors hanging from broken hinges. Inside, the remains of his binding ceremony—charred bones, collapsed rafters, the scent of ash that never truly fades.
"You will feed," the Ari tells him, her hand on his arm. Her voice is sharp with warning. "You will not be a danger to our warriors. Not after everything."
The Defender knows she's right. The hunger pulses with its own heartbeat, thickening his tongue, engorging his muscles. Days without feeding have made him volatile. Reckless.
But the thought of feeding where Brenna died. . .
Bile rises in his throat.
The bond is quiet. Sylas and Lucian are too far south to feel this. It's only Ari, and her frustration bleeds into him like water through cracked stone.
"I know this is hell for you," she whispers. "But you must."
Later, in the barn behind the homestead where his sister raised a daughter who will never grow old, two shieldmaidens wait. Willing. Warm. Alive in ways Brenna will never be again.
He does not look at the house. At the wind chimes that once belonged to his niece.
The Defender feeds. He survives. The hunger quiets for a time.
But the cost . . .
Some hungers are worse than death.
_____
These are only fragments. The full chronicle—their bonds, their hungers, their impossible choices—will be revealed when the Darkborn saga begins.
Your choices, Midnight Romantic:
🫦 Stay in the shadows (Free): Join the After Dark Reader Lounge for midnight lore drops, world-building secrets, and Darkborn updates. [Subscribe to free Substack]
🫦 Step into the dark ($5/month): Unlock forbidden scenes, character confessions, and exclusive Darkborn artifacts available only to those who dare. [Membership Options]
🫦 Prepare for the reckoning: Follow the Bloodborn Kickstarter (Summer 2026) for collector's editions, signed copies, and early access to the series that will consume you. [Follow the Kickstarter Page]
The hunger is only beginning.
Fragment III: Arless - Warden of the North
From the Lorekeepers of the First Blood
Translated by Bryanna Thorvold, Archivist of the Forsaken
She feeds in a frenzy.
No connection. No warmth. Just hunger seeking solace, needing balance.
The vessel—a southerner, young and eager—lies sated in her bed. She dresses in silence, lacing her leathers with practiced hands. She will leave before he wakes. She always does. She HAS to.
In the hall, she hears the Wolf's anguish through the stone walls. He has tried again. Failed again. His rage at his own body's betrayal echoes through the bond—raw, desperate and utterly terrified.
Thorne sleeps restlessly, his dreams thick with smoke and screaming. Even in sleep, his grief pulses through the bond like a second heartbeat.
Lucian sits alone in his chamber, thinking. Always thinking. Runes. Patterns. The cost of what they've become. His guilt is a quiet, relentless thing, and Arless feels it like frost creeping beneath her skin.
She is the only one who feeds without struggle.
The only one who takes what is offered and moves on.
The others think this makes her strong.
They do not understand: she is simply too tired to break. And she can no longer fight what she has become.
Her father's face flashes in her mind—unbidden, unwelcome. Then, Lucian's betrayal immediately follows, stiffening her spine.
She has not forgiven him. She's uncertains he ever can.
Arless descends the stairs. The Keep is quiet. Dawn is hours away. The bond hums with the others' pain, and she carries it like she carries everything else—alone, steady, unbreaking.
Somehow, deep down she knows: the Wolf will find his solace. Thorne and Lucian will find their purpose.
And her?
Arless will remain the backbone.
Strong, steady, and alone.
______
These are only fragments. The full chronicle—their bonds, their hungers, their impossible choices—will be revealed when the Darkborn saga begins.
Your choices, Midnight Romantic:
🫦 Stay in the shadows (Free): Join the After Dark Reader Lounge for midnight lore drops, world-building secrets, and Darkborn updates. [Subscribe to free Substack]
🫦 Step into the dark ($5/month): Unlock forbidden scenes, character confessions, and exclusive Darkborn artifacts available only to those who dare. [Membership Options]
🫦 Prepare for the reckoning: Follow the Bloodborn Kickstarter (Summer 2026) for collector's editions, signed copies, and early access to the series that will consume you. [Follow the Kickstarter Page]
The hunger is only beginning.