This is the sequel to The Wolf Howls for Love. While it is its own self-contained narrative, they do share history and lore. It is advised that you read The Wolf Howls for Love first before reading this title. White deer are born and revered as something akin to gods. They are meant to marry only royalty, to help keep up the origin story based on their ancestors: that a white deer and a wolf fell in love, and their descendants eventually became human. However, Ylwess is sent out on a mission to find a white deer, rumored to have been hidden away because he was born with a birthmark, a representation of a curse, which the villages around him feel has caused all of the death and disease since his birth. Ylwess finds the white deer locked away in the dark. He is thin, dirty, and hasn't even been taught how to speak. He is more animal than human. Ylwess coaxes the white deer out and inadvertently forms a connection with him, making them near-inseparable. Unfortunately, the white deer has been known only as Nergui, which means "nameless." So, Ylwess gives him a name: Alta, meaning gold, like his eyes. As they travel back to the capital, Alta and Ylwess grow closer and closer, even to the point where Ylwess is invited to the palace to serve as a companion as he is educated in the ways of the world. But Alta's and Ylwess's feelings for each other grow beyond friendship. They can never act on these feelings, though, as white deer must only marry royalty, of which Ylwess is not.

BL Library