Nightborn: Totally addictive fantasy fiction (The Hollow King Book 2)
Page 34
‘I’ll go with you,’ she told him, her voice desperate now. ‘Anywhere. We can go anywhere. So long as we’re together.’
Bastien Larelwynn laughed like a man without a care in the world, kissing her again until she tore her mouth free of his so she could gasp his name out loud.
Epilogue
One year later
The sound of horse hooves echoed down the narrow path through the trees. It brought Bastien’s attention up from the vegetable bed he was digging. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with one arm and shielded his eyes against the bright sun.
In the background, the noise of metal on metal rang out of the forge. Birds called out from the trees, the forest thick with life, far away as it was from other settlements of any size. Bastien watched the rider approach, unhurried and relaxed. There was a harp slung on his back. The next village sometimes sent people their way but mainly they were alone.
It was how they wanted to be.
‘Hello?’ the rider called, his voice naturally musical. Of course it was. Golden-haired and handsome, he hadn’t changed. Not a jot. ‘Bastien?’
It felt like the world dropped out from underneath him. He hung there, ready to fall and hit the ground hard. And that would be reality once more. A year. They had made it just a year on their own, safe, before the past found them.
Bastien kept glaring at him, waiting until he reached the edge of their land and dismounted. ‘Hello, Misha.’ He couldn’t bring himself to smile or say it was good to see the harper. It wasn’t. ‘You’ve come a long way.’
‘Well,’ said the harper. ‘If you will hide yourselves away in the back of beyond.’
‘It’s not the back of beyond,’ Bastien said, a little defensive. He loved this place. They had chosen it together.
‘Well, if not, I’m pretty sure you can see it from here,’ Misha grinned. ‘Can we speak? In private?’
Bastien looked around. There was no one else for miles except for Grace.
‘I have, as you say, come a long way to see you,’ the harper went on.
Damn it, he couldn’t turn him away. Grace would never forgive him. Bastien might want to keep the world out but the world was determined to intervene, it seemed.
‘There’s a stable out the back. See to your horse. I’ll fetch Grace.’
Grace was hammering away at some unsuspecting piece of metal while the forge blazed behind her. Always the right temperature and intensity in her forge. Bastien smiled from the doorway, watching her lost in her work. Maybe it was something inherited. Perhaps she had picked it up from all that time watching Zavi Millan. Or even a natural talent. Whatever it was, when she found someone to take her on as an apprentice, she mastered in months what it took others years. The blacksmith had begged them to stay.
She wouldn’t make blades, not beyond kitchen knives and basic implements. But there was no one better with horses.
After a moment she noticed him and set aside the hammer. She doused the metal in the barrel, steam billowing around her. The light glimmered on the sweat dotting the skin of her bare arms and face. She smiled at him and he had never seen her more delectable.
‘I heard a horse. Someone throw a shoe?’
‘No. It’s Misha Harper.’
‘Misha?’ Excitement made her eyes sparkle. ‘What’s Misha doing here? Are the others with him? Daniel and Ellyn?’
‘No, just Misha.’
‘Well come on then.’ She grabbed his arm as she went by, pulling him along with her. ‘Let’s hear all the news.’
‘Grace,’ he said, a warning tone in his voice.
She turned to face him and her expression grew a little more solemn. ‘It’s okay, love. Don’t worry. Whatever it is, we’ll handle it. Together.’
‘Together,’ he said. ‘But it’s been a year. The kingdom hasn’t fallen apart without us, has it? The council is running things, and Daniel and Ellyn are—’
She stopped him with a kiss. ‘Misha won’t have come all this way for nothing. And we can’t go on hiding forever. Let’s just find out.’
‘Grace…’ he said, but stopped.
‘What?’
‘I love you. You know that, don’t you? No matter what.’
There was that smile again, the one he would do anything for. The one that meant he lost all reason and couldn’t deny her anything.
‘And I love you. No matter what, my Lord of Thorns.’
If you were swept away by the romance, intrigue and action of Nightborn, you’ll adore The Queen’s Wing by Jessica Thorne – another magical, addictive fantasy read.
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The Queen’s Wing
The Queen's Wing Book 1
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'I was born to fight,’ I used to say. But now I know it isn’t true. I was born to be a pawn in the great game of royal houses, married to someone – anyone – my family deems suitable…
Bel would do anything to spend her days alongside her best friend and childhood sweetheart Shae – training in the art of Vairian combat, hoping to some day live up to the legacy left by the mother she lost as a child.
But when a mysterious and deadly attack on the capital lands Bel’s father unexpectedly on the throne, her life is forever changed. In order to secure her father’s new empire, Bel is forced to travel to the distant land of Anthaeus to marry its recently widowed ruler, Conleith.
For any other young woman the chance to become royalty would be a dream come true, but for Bel, the rigidity of court life is like a prison sentence. And while Conleith is an unexpectedly intriguing – and attractive – puzzle… could she ever love him when it would mean turning her back on her feelings for Shae, her first love and last connection to home?
Then a brutal assassination attempt nearly takes her life, and Bel learns that there’s more on the line than just her happiness. Is it the same faceless enemy who attacked her homeland and, with dangers around every corner, who in the palace can she trust?
A heart-stoppingly magical new novel that will keep you turning the pages. Perfect for fans of The Selection, Bella Forrest and Sarah J. Maas.
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Books by Jessica Thorne
The Hollow King series
Mageborn
Nightborn
The Queen’s Wing series
The Queen’s Wing
The Stone’s Heart
Available in Audio
The Hollow King series
Mageborn (Available in the UK and the US)
The Queen’s Wing series
The Queen’s Wing (Available in the UK and the US)
The Stone’s Heart (Available in the UK and the US)
A Letter from Jessica
Dear reader,
I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read Nightborn. If you did enjoy it, and want to keep up to date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Sign up here!
Returning to a beloved world always feels special, even if that world is the world of the mageborn, and there’s danger, heartbreak and betrayal around every corner. But there is also passion and wonder, and the final promise of love. Writing Nightborn was an adventure in and of itself, especially editing on lockdown during the Covid-19 outbreak. It helped me cope in so many ways and I want to say a special thanks for all the wonderful support from my editor Ellen and the team at Bookouture during this time.
Thanks also to my writing friends, especially the Naughty Kitchen and the Lady Writers, my fellow Romantic Novelists’ Association members all over the world, the fabulous Kate Pearce, my family and my beloved husband and partner in lockdown, Pat.
I hope you l
oved Nightborn and if you did I would be very grateful if you could write a review. I’d love to hear what you think, and it makes such a difference helping new readers to discover one of my books for the first time.
I love hearing from my readers – you can get in touch on my Facebook page, through Twitter, Goodreads or my website.
Thanks,
Jessica Thorne
www.rflong.com/jessicathorne
The Stone’s Heart
The Queen's Wing Book 2
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Something evil is gathering power in the kingdom. It knows the secrets in your heart, and nobody is safe…
Petra Kel – young and headstrong – has been named General of the Queen’s Guard. But while Petra’s head may be in rebuilding the war-torn kingdom alongside her childhood friend Queen Belengaria, she left her heart miles away in their homeland, the day she turned her back on the only man she ever loved and fled.
But then Petra’s past – in the form of Bel’s roguish brother Zander – comes crashing in, just as rumours of dark magic begin to swirl at court. Petra can’t afford to be distracted… but the unfinished business between herself and Zander is like a vice upon her heart.
When evil takes hold of the kingdom and threatens Bel, Petra is forced to make the impossible choice between love and loyalty. And will the insidious magic of the Stone’s Heart reveal the heart-breaking reason why she left Zander behind all those years ago?
A gripping and magical read that will captivate you from the very first page. Perfect for fans of The Selection, Bella Forrest and Sarah J. Maas.
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Mageborn
The Hollow King Series Book 1
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The room is small and dark. Row upon row of jars line the shelves, each one sealed with blood-red wax. The seal’s mark is a twisted circle of briar with gleaming, gold-tipped thorns. And in each jar a flicker of forbidden magic dances… beautiful, but deadly.
Sold to the Crown in the aftermath of the Last Great War, Grace Marchant has never known her parents. Now, she trains as an elite soldier tracking down mageborn – those born with an ancient and long-outlawed magic – and destroying them if they don’t surrender their power to the Crown.
The mageborn who submit are collared, then handed over to the King’s cousin and heir: the elusive Bastien Larelwynn, Lord of Thorns, locked away in his shadowy workshop deep inside the castle. What becomes of them is hard to say – the Lord of Thorns keeps his secrets close.
Grace has always fought the voice inside her that questions whether the law is truly just – but when her closest friend is next on Bastien’s list, Grace’s loyalties are tested to the limit. Confronting Bastien – searching his strangely compelling obsidian-black eyes for answers – Grace is shocked to feel herself begin to change, to show the first signs of the wild magic she so fears.
Only the Lord of Thorns has the power to save her and the rest of the mageborn – if he doesn’t destroy them all first…
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Published by Bookouture in 2020
An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Jessica Thorne, 2020
Jessica Thorne has asserted her right to be identified
as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-83888-762-9
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.