The Rising
Page 54
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Excerpt to 'The Betrayed, Book Two of the Painted Maidens Trilogy'
Now Available!
Clouds roll over the moon, giving it a hazy, silver glow. Liam's beast stretches beneath his skin. It hasn't been out for a while now, and needs a release. The birthmark on the side of his face burns, reminding him what Alaric told him once:
Seems you have a special affinity with the moon.
Liam will never forget those words. They are seared into his brain, the same way his birthmark sears him each time he shifts. It hadn't taken long for Alaric to discover Liam could shift at will, without the full moon and without any Undine fear induced pheromones permeating the air.
But it wasn't until Alaric began injecting Liam's blood into other wolves, that Liam had started building his own, secret army—one that would eventually take Alaric down. After just a few doses, Alaric had a dozen wolves that could change at will. It does not bode well for the clan, for the Undine, or for anybody.
Just thinking about it causes a few spiky hairs to emerge along the back of Liam’s neck. They cut through his skin like the dirty needles Alaric injects into Liam’s forearms.
The bowling alley will survive without me a little longer, Liam thinks. I need to run.
Just as he gives himself permission, the burning sensation fire-balls out from his scar and onto his scalp, chest, and legs; it envelopes his entire body then sinks in until even his bones combust in the inferno. Liam can barely feel his bones stretching and popping behind the searing pain blazing throughout his cells.
Lifting his chin to the moon and clawing at his own skin, Liam rides the tidal wave cresting into insurmountable agony. At the apex of the swell, when Liam swears he can reach up and touch the moon, blackness takes over.
Not but a few seconds later, the werewolf opens his eyes, and it is Liam stretching underneath the skin, cautioning the animal when necessary, and pulling back on the beast when he can.
Two separate worlds; the Undine of The Deep and the Wolves of The Dry. A history muddled in war but thick with family bonds blur the lines of right and wrong. The youngest members of each race unite, trying to steer their people away from the brink of disaster. Serena and Liam must work together to resolve the problems of their people before the pressure tears these twin siblings apart. But the betrayed are angry, and are out for revenge.
Order 'The Betrayed, Book Two of The Painted Maidens Trilogy'
About the Author
Terra is author of the eco-fantasy novels in the Akasha Series, 'Water', 'Air', 'Fire' and 'Earth', as well as the Painted Maidens Trilogy. Terra was born and raised in Colorado but has since lived in California, Texas, Utah, North Carolina, and Virginia. Terra served a 5½ year enlistment in the Marine Corp, has earned her bachelor's and master's degree and presently runs the language services division of a small business.
Terra currently lives in a suburb of Washington, DC with her husband of fifteen years and three children.
Connect with Terra:
E-mail: terra.harmony11@gmail.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/terraharmony
Blog: https://harmonylit.wordpress.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/harmonygirlit
Discover other titles by Terra:
The Akasha Series
Elemental powers in the palm of her hand, and it won't be enough to save her. When Kaitlyn Alder is involuntarily introduced to a life of magic, she becomes part of an organization hell-bent on saving the Earth. Follow the saga as one of the most terrifying men the human race has to offer stands between Kaitlyn and Earth's survival.
Water, Book 1 – Now a FREE ebook across all platforms
Air, Book 2
Fire, Book 3
Earth, Book 4
Or buy the complete set:
Akasha, The Complete Saga
Read more great novels from Patchwork Press
Featured Title:
The Lost Locket of Lahari
Six of the Patchwork Press Authors, including Terra Harmony, have teamed up to create their first anthology!
In a dusty, dilapidated stall tucked away in an alcove of a bustling Bazaar in India, a man with a rickety spine and a spindly beard bends over his work bench, forging a locket with accidental magic. There’s power in a wish, and there’s nothing he wants more than for his children to return home. The locket was intricately crafted, adorned with one dragonfly for each of his children—and the power to find them.
With the guidance of fate, the locket skips through time and journeys across oceans, traveling from person to person in a constant search for the souls whispered into its vessel. Centuries after the magical old man in the Bazaar became near-forgotten myth and whispered legend, the locket has fallen into the hands of those with echoes of the six dragonflies: the seeker, the empath, the dreamer, the confidant, the adventurer, and the dancer.
In the hands of its new owners, the power of the locket adapts, bending and remaking itself to answer need. While the locket never found the children of Lahari, it found the next best thing… Their spirits.
The six novellas of the Lost Locket of Lahari anthology pause a moment in time when the locket finds the ripples of its ancestry. From the Victorian-era to the Roaring Twenties, the 1940s to modern day and beyond, this anthology is a collection of stories as dynamic as the authors themselves.