Four warriors betrayed. Four souls remade in darkness. One curse that binds them still.

Before the blood bonds and after their world burned to ash, four Viking warriors vowed allegiance in exchange for revenge.

Each carries the mark of what they lost—and the burden of what they became. These are pieces of them, recovered from the Scarlet Diaries.

So, lean in, reader. Meet the Viking warriors whose stories built the legend of the Darkborn.

🩸 Sylas — The Darkborn King

The Wolf of the North: a man haunted by the one thing he cannot kill—his heart.

He clings to his humanity more desperately than we do—than we can comprehend, I think—because the memories of Milla and Letty allow nothing less. Even if the thirst eats away at him.

➡️ Read Sylas’s Entry → HERE

🖤 Thorne — The Cocky Devil

Defender of the North: too cocky for his own good.

“You’ll be fine. I promise.” With a grin, I reach up and gently lick her neck wounds closed. “The brotherhood thanks you for your service.”

➡️ Read Thorne’s Entry → HERE

🕯 Lucian — The Silent Giant

Fist of the North: the silent giant born of brute strength.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

I’m not sure how long I grapple with words in her silence, but the instant Ari shivers, “Are you cold?” falls easily from my lips. Of all the things I struggle to say, that’s what comes out?

➡️ Read Lucian’s Entry → HERE

⚔️ Arless — The Feral Heart

Warden of the North: her arrows never miss.

“You don’t look like a monster,” he remarks, bemused.

“And you don’t look like the village idiot,” I toss back. “Yet here you stand, knowing full well you may be dead in moments.”

➡️ Read Arless’s Entry → HERE

Together they are the Darkborn—Hel’s champions and protectors of the north. They are bound by fire, blood, and the memory of what it meant to be human.

Their story begins in Origins: A Darkborn Prequel.
👉 Download your free copy here

And when you’re ready to fall further into the dark…
Join Scarlet After Dark for exclusive letters, lore, and Darkborn secrets you were never meant to hear.

👉 Follow the Bloodborn Collector’s Edition Kickstarter (Campaign Launches February 2026)

Greetings Midnight Romantics!

I have been in the author world for 13 years, and I have a lot of author friends, though most of them live far away - east coast, overseas, many live in Texas - pretty much anywhere but near me. But I made a new author friend last weekend and she lives in one of my most favorite places in California. Tahoe. Lucky her. It's not exactly close, but what's four hours of a beautiful drive, right?

Some of you may know Jill Shalvis. She's been around for years and her books are bestsellers! They are heartwarming, spicy, and sweet. And she is so sweet too.

So, this is just a quick stop-in to say... if you're looking for a new romance author, or have been wanting to read one of her books, she has a new book coming out soon, and I just picked up a signed copy of He Falls First.

Other than that, I'm lost in the Darkborn. It has pretty much consumed my thoughts and my day. I'm more than halfway through book two, Soulbound, and I can't wait to share this world with you. Eeek!

The village called him slow and simple, but legend will call him the Fist of the North.

Quiet as a child, but most terrifying of warriors. Lucian was considered slow and simple, but when he speaks, even the gods listen. What he lacks in social graces, he makes up for in brute strength, strategy, and observation.

He moves like shadow through the ruins, the quiet tether that keeps the others from unraveling. Inside him lives fury and longing, always denied and never truly sated. Outside, he is stillness so absolute it frightens the ones who love him most.

He does not rage; he endures. But endurance is its own form of madness.

“Lu,” she says more softly. Ari’s touch is fire on my skin. Gentle and tender, but for all the wrong reasons.

He touched you—How many times has he touched you?

Rage-filled thoughts burn through my blood and tighten each of my muscles to the point I think I might actually snap.

Why have you not told us? No—why have you never told me? “I will kill him,” comes out instead.
— Bloodborn, Book One of the Darkborn Saga

If Sylas is the heart and Thorne the blade, Lucian is the silence between them—steady, watchful, and far too dangerous to ever be underestimated.

In case you missed it...

👉 Download Origins: A Darkborn Prequel

👉 Follow the Bloodborn Collector’s Edition Kickstarter (Campaign Launches February 2026)

Legends call him the Defender of the North. To his Darkborn brethren, he is loyal, passionate, and far too cocky for his own good. Probably NSFW...

If Sylas is the flame that leads, Thorne is the blaze left in his wake.
Swoon-worthy and outspoken, Thorne seeks the silver lining, even in the darkest times. But threaten those he holds dear and the true games begin.

Thorne was born to protect and destroy in equal measure long before he became Darkborn. Hel’s curse only honed him, creating a creature who both breaks hearts and eats them. But beneath the lust and hunger is fear. For all mortals are fragile, their lives fleeting. They die, and loving one is something he will never risk again.

Or so he thinks.

My muscles ache with unspent energy, a familiar hunger gnawing from the inside out as the female beneath me claws her fingernails into my back, her breasts bouncing, the scent of sweat and blood permeating her as our skin slaps against one another.

She’s more than a willing vessel, and that she gives herself to me freely—that she wants me and isn’t disgusted by the thought of me—only makes my cock harder.

I bite into her neck, and she arches against me with a gasp, our satisfaction instant.

But in that moment, it is Imara’s heartbeat I detect in the distance. Imara’s scent I smell and crave.

No.
— Bloodborn, Book One of the Darkborn Saga

Yet every time he looks at Imara, the lie frays a little more. For all his control, he is still ruled by the one thing he cannot command: his own heart.

👉 Download Origins: A Darkborn Prequel

👉 Follow the Bloodborn Collector’s Edition Kickstarter (Campaign Launches February 2026)