Fantasy

The Angels Are Coming

Hi Readers,

We hope you had a great week. We did. We completed Curse Breaker Hidden! It’s a looong, fun book that closes out the current story arc, so we can begin a new one in the sequel. We tied up as much as possible in a sparkly and very magical bow for you. You’re welcome.

You know what’s even better than that?

Curse Breaker: Hidden begins just minutes after His Angelic Keeper Hidden ends! When read back-to-back, you get lots of page time with us! His Angelic Keeper Hidden is 106,000 words and Curse Breaker Hidden is a whopping ~137,000 words! (This may change during the editing process.)

This is Ran, Sarn’s son, but you knew that by my enthusiasm! 🙂 Curse Breaker Hidden is coming to ebook and print hopefully in February. It’s with the editor now and go on pre-order as soon as we know when it will be ready for you.

However, you can dive into a brand new adventure on Tuesday! And now, it is our greatest pleasure to present to you an excerpt of His Angelic Keeper Hidden, which comes out on Jan. 12!

If you missed a part of our special presentation of His Angelic Keeper Hidden, you can catch up now. Read the intro, part 1, or part 2 now.

His Angelic Keeper Hidden

Get That Apple

As Fay stared at the flame flickering on her palm, an image of Sovvan appeared in its heart finally. Thank you, God. Because she’d tried to find out what had happened to that girl a few times since she’d broken the connection. Time moved slowly in the afterlife, but it did move. Unfortunately, no one else had. The scene looked the same as it had the last time Fay had checked it.

Sovvan still lay on a branch, her dark hair and white robes waving in the breeze like she was some kind of damsel in a bard’s tale. White wasn’t a good color for Sovvan, not even with the wide purple hem and edging on the sleeves. It washed the girl out and made her look even more pale and pathetic when Sovvan was anything but. 

Fay fought the urge to roll her eyes. Sovvan was no damsel in distress. She was far too plucky for that, but where was that pluck now? Come on, girl. Get up. This isn’t the time to lay about.

 While Sovvan did nothing to save herself, her ex-guardian angel cast a spell Fay didn’t recognize. Why was that girl just lying there? “Wake up.” But Sovvan didn’t. Why not? What am I missing? Fay poked the flame, but nothing happened because she was impervious to fire.

Something must be preventing Sovvan from waking up. Could the Agent of Chaos do that? Fay reviewed what little she knew of those creatures, then shook her head. No, her gut said something else was going on. Come on, girl, wake up. I gave you a reprieve. Not something the old goddess of Fate would have done, but Phadrassen wasn’t that woman anymore. She technically wasn’t a goddess anymore and hadn’t been for a millennium or two, not since the last uprising when she’d pledged herself and her family to serve the Father of All Creation.

He should have smote us from existence. It was His right to do that. But He hadn’t. Instead, He’d accepted her service, reduced her power, which had been a relief, truth be told, but she would never admit that to anyone. After that, Fay had done what she could to uphold this tenuous ‘Balance’ thing. That last war had nearly broken it and the world she’d lived in for years beyond counting. So keeping the Balance was imperative for her family’s survival, and Fay tended to eviscerate threats to that Balance with extreme prejudice.

Come on, girl. I gave you a get out of trouble-free card—I mean apple. Use it! Why hadn’t Misriah forced the apple she’d given Sovvan down that girl’s throat? The cure wasn’t a complicated ritual—bite, chew, swallow, and let the apple do its work. Why weren’t they doing that?

Do I have to do everything myself? Fay fought the urge to clench her fists. She didn’t want to quench the flame or the future she was studying. It was sort of like scrying, except her fiery power rendered every image in red, orange, and gold. But the flame could only show her the immediate future, not the present, and not a damned thing happened there.

What in blazes was that warrior angel doing? Communing with the soul she was supposed to be guarding? That would explain why Misriah knelt there with her head thrown back and her arms akimbo, but this wasn’t the time for that. Unless her mortal was in danger. Was he?Fay held out her other hand and summoned another flame. Show me Sovvan’s twin brother, Sarn. A flame shot out of her palm, but it didn’t show a vision of his immediate future, just an image of a luminous silver tree, shaking a branch at her in consternation.

Fay laughed. She couldn’t help it. “Well, hello to you too, your majesty.”

“Why are you trying to view his future?” asked the Queen of All Trees.

“Why are you hiding him?” Fay poked the palm-sized image of Shayari’s queen with her gift, just to see if that entity would give up any information, but no, the Queen of All Trees deflected that magical probe right back at her.

Ouch. Fay smothered the flame that licked the sleeve of her favorite dress. It was a cream-colored silk sheathe with dual slits, so she could run when one of her children called.

The Queen of All Trees didn’t answer. Well, that was fine. Fay knew where to find Sarn. He’d be somewhere under or around Mount Eredren since the promises he’d made wouldn’t allow him to go far from there.

“Who are you hiding him from? Is it just me or someone else?” Fay bet good money it wasn’t her because she had no reason to harm him.

No answer came, not that Fay had expected one. They were at a stalemate for now. “You know I could pop over and look, right? When He limited my powers, He didn’t touch my ability to teleport at will.”

The Queen of All Trees nodded her glowing mushroom-shaped crown. Interesting.

“You want me to flash over there, don’t you?” Fay narrowed her eyes at the Queen’s apparition. “Why? What is it you want me to see?”

“Maybe something, maybe nothing. Only you can judge that.” The Queen of All Trees raised and lowered her branches in a kind of shrug, then her image winked out.

How mysterious. What trouble are you in now, Sarn? Fay searched through the immediate futures for him just in case the Queen of All Trees had relaxed her guard. But she hadn’t. Fay hadn’t expected her to. Still, this all raised an interesting question. What the heck was going on in Shayari?

***

Pre-order His Angelic Keeper #2: Hidden now.

Get the first book in the His Angelic Keeper series now.


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