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| A Lyrical Press Inc Science Fiction Romance Novel |
All digital formats and the print format are available from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, B&N
Outcast. Cursed. Dying. Is Keir beyond redemption?
For Keirlan de Corizi--the legendary
'Blue Demon' of Adalucien--death seems the only escape from a world
where his discolored skin marks him as an oddity and condemns him to
life as a pariah. But salvation comes in an unexpected guise: Tarquin
Secker, a young woman who can travel the stars with a wave of her hand.
But Quin has secrets of her own. She's
spent eternity searching through space and time with a strange band of
companions at her back. Defying her friends' counsel, Quin risks her
apparent immortality to save Keir. She offers him sanctuary and a new
life on her home world, Lyagnius.
When Keir mistakenly unleashes his
dormant alien powers and earns instant exile from Quin's home world,
will she risk everything to stand by him again?
Excerpt
Brilliant flashes of multicolored lights burst and bloomed like flowers in the sky, drawing him onto a small balcony outside.
He stood in the shadows and watched them in fascination, the night
air cool on his skin and the wind stirring his hair. His quarters
overlooked the stone bowl of the plaza in which they had arrived, a deep
crater in the craggy mouth of the mountain that cupped the shell-like
palace. Even in the glow of the illuminated sky, he could see nothing
below the crater’s rim or the landscape beyond, all of it hidden by
night’s dark mantle. The stars were white pinpricks, dimmed to
insignificance by the explosion of lights and veiled by a mixture of
smoke and wispy clouds.
Amidst the noise and flashes, the sound of movement drew his gaze
aside. Quin stepped out onto the adjoining balcony to lean nonchalantly
on the ledge and admire the show. The display forgotten, Keir immersed
himself deeper in the shadows and watched her instead. Quin had unbound
her hair, which now formed a wild red halo around her face. The formal
robes had been exchanged for a short black slip that ended mid-thigh,
and a long-sleeved robe of black lace. The gentle curves of her slim
figure showed through the fabric. His eyes strayed to the white skin of
her legs, like fine marble shaped and smoothed. What would it feel like
to touch? Cool like stone? Or warm like velvet, soft as silk?
Unease tightened his muscles, and he tried to pull his gaze away. A
Salusian woman would never expose herself like that. But she does not
know I am here. I should not be looking. Even as he thought it, even as
he berated himself for it, his gaze drifted back. A smile arched her
lips as she watched the skies, as enchanted as a child. A stronger gust
of wind brushed the hair back from her face and folded the satin cloth
of her outfit taut around her figure.
A sudden sense of elation overwhelmed him, combined with the heat
T’rill had inspired. Desire wrapped tight arms around his body. The
heady mix stole his breath. No. Shame burned his skin. Quin was his
friend, the first he had ever had. The first person to show him kindness
in more years than he could count. Yet at that moment he wanted more.
For the first time in remembrance, he wanted to touch and be touched in
return. To hold her and have her return his embrace freely, with more
than a friend’s affection. To feel her white skin under his fingertips.
To brush the hair from her face as the breeze did now, and run his
fingers through it.
His thoughts dishonored her gift of friendship to him.
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2 comments:
Great excerpt!
Congrats on the awards. Thanks for sharing the great excerpt.
debby236 at gmail dot com
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