Ordered by the king to marry, Sir Aidan of Fallenrock is dead set against taking a bartered bride. He believes his people should be patient and wait for the gods to bless them. When the beautiful Lady Paige comes through the sacred rings, kissing and touching him like she knows their joined fate, Aidan’s sure he’s being rewarded—until his new bride tries to back out of their marriage.
Keeping Paige Prologue Excerpt
Great Forest, Faerian Territory, Parallel Universe
“Oh, blessed fairies of the great forest, givers of spring, and givers of life after the cold! Take our autumn offering to grant us safe winter and bring life after the snow. Take our offered sister and make her a queen of your realm.”
“Let me go, you crazed heretics!” Paige screamed, kicking and jerking her limbs to be free of the hands that held her high over a sea of ivy-crowned heads. Outrage pumped hard and fast through her veins until she felt as if her heart might burst from her chest in little pieces. “You don’t want me. I’m not a believer. I will curse you with dead trees and wilted flowers. My father’s people will not stand for this!”
All right, so the last part was a lie. Her father’s people wouldn’t care what the Faerians did to her. In fact, she half expected they traded her to the crazed women to be rid of the last of her cursed family. How else would the heretics have known where her hunting ground was located? Or that she’d be there following the buck migration.
The Faerians ignored her pleas and threats, answering the priestess’s words with random exclamations of, “Oh, blessed fairies!” and “Take our Forestter sister. Grant us life!”
Long, drifting branches passed over her, the yellowed leaves falling with each push of the breeze. They hit her chest and hips, and fluttered onto the female heads surrounding her only to tangle in their flowing locks. A tiny giggle mingled amongst the swaying treetops and Paige stiffened in horror. Soon the first laugh was followed by more mischievous sounds, as if a choir of fairies watched the procession. She couldn’t see them, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there and very real.
Paige didn’t need to see the ground or the pathway in which they traveled to know what was happening. They took her to the sacred circle, to the fairy ring of the great forest to be sacrificed. The trees gave way to a grassy clearing. A ring of stone pillars created a large circle, each roughly carved and three times as tall as the women. Their towering height imposed as it impressed. The believers carried Paige between two of the pillars.
“At least give me back the clothes you stole from me. Don’t send me like this!” she screamed, shaking now that they were drawing to the end of the journey. Everyone knew about the fairy rings, had been warned as children to avoid stepping within the fairy playground. Paige’s own grandmother claimed to have come through them when she was a young girl. “At least give me my bow. Have some compassion. Don’t send me to the fairy world unarmed.”
Paige believed in the possibility of fairies, though she had never seen one for herself. From what she had been told as a child, they were mischievous, somewhat vengeful creatures and they liked nothing more than to play tricks on non-worshippers.
“Oh, blessed fairies, here is our sister!” the priestess called. The woman ordered her lowered and Paige felt the cold chill of a stone altar at her naked back. The flimsy gauze they’d wrapped around her waist like a belt hardly counted as clothing. As the material snagged on the rock, the pin holding it close to her hips dug into her flesh.
Paige struggled to be free. A ring of mushrooms grew in the center of the stones, so innocuous in appearance that if a person didn’t know about their hidden magic they might be tempted to step inside. Was this truly the fairy ring, supposed doorway to fairy realm? The truth was Paige didn’t know where the ring would lead. No one did. She doubted even the Faerian priestess knew all the fairy secrets. Her grandmother came through and it wasn’t the fairy world she had been living in.
The priestess stood over her as countless hands pinned Paige down. The woman’s white gown formed tight to her bodice only to flow in long waves along her waist and hips. The skirt trailed behind her in a long train. Tiny gold flowers were embroidered along the hem. Her followers wore the same outfit, minus the embroidery and train. Long, straight black hair seemed to stir around the priestess’s oval face, the thin strands dancing like snakes. The woman lifted a wooden cup she had carried with her from the village.
“Drink of the ambrosia,” the priestess urged, her gorgeous brown eyes round and filled with promise. “Taste the nectar of the fairy goddess and feel the pleasures of old magic. Let it take you. Let it show you.”
Paige clenched her mouth tight, struggling violently as fingers pressed into her cheeks to force her teeth apart. The priestess’s expression didn’t change as she leaned over and slowly poured the cup’s contents into her prisoner’s mouth. Wherever the liquid touched, tingling erupted, almost burning in its intensity.
Paige tried to resist, spitting the liquid out over her face, but it was too much. She was forced to choke down several gulps or drown. The tingling spread down her throat into her stomach and over her cheeks from where trails of discarded liquid touched her flesh. She tried to resist the alluring magic, but it was as useless as resisting the falling rain.
The instant the cup was empty the Faerian women let go, leaving her free to run. Paige shot up on the altar, ready to bolt into the woods to hide, only to be brought short by a transparent winged creature flying in front of her face. Paige jerked back in fright, sliding her ass on the rough stone. The fairy’s gown matched that of the priestess, with the train trailing down past her feet as she fluttered about in the air. The creature’s eyes looked too big for her face and her skin glimmered, tinged with pale blues and silvers. Silver threads wove in delicate patterns over her wings. Soon more small beings began to appear to her, each tinted with different shades of nature.
Paige couldn’t move. The strange sensation of the ambrosia traveled through her blood, leaving her stomach to conquer her limbs. Even her fingernails and hair seemed to prickle. With each passing second, the fairies became clearer. They flew around the gathered worshipers, perching on their shoulders and heads, completely unseen by those who did not drink. Several pulled at the priestess’s hair, combing the locks with their fingers to create the snakelike effect she had noticed earlier.
They buzzed around her and Paige jerked, trying to follow them with her eyes. But, when she looked too quickly, the forest blurred into streaks of impossible colors. The Faerians became excited at Paige’s apparent visions.
“What madness is this,” Paige whispered, swatting at the pests. The flat of her hand managed to smack one across the body and send it flying. Instantly, the others became enraged and attacked. Though Paige tried to fight them off, they swarmed her, pinching her flesh, pulling the long locks of her red hair and the gauze of her belt, pushing wherever they could touch—along the soles of her feet, her exposed sex, her nose and breasts. Paige grunted, flailing about in an effort to be free. With surprising strength, the fairies slid her ass over the coarse surface of stone toward the center ring. For a moment they held her suspended in the air before tossing her at the ground into the ring of mushrooms.
Paige screamed for salvation, but the only answer she received was the high-pitched screech of fairy laughter and the incessant droning of, “Oh, blessed fairies! Take our sister, grant us life!”
End Excerpt
To learn more visit www.TheRavenBooks.com or www.MichellePillow.com
Divinity Series
Divinity Warriors
Lilith Enraptured
Fighting Lady Jayne
Keeping Paige
Taking Karre
Divinity Healers
Ariella’s Keeper
Seducing Cecilia
Linnea’s Arrangement
Divinity Magic
Divining Helena
More Coming Soon!
About the Author, Michelle M. Pillow
; Michelle M. Pillow, Author of All Things Romance™, is a multi-published, award winning author writing in many romance fiction genres including futuristic, paranormal, historical, contemporary, fantasy and dark paranormal. Ever since she can remember, she has had a strange fascination with anything supernatural—ghosts, magical powers, and oh… vampires. What could be more alluring than being immortal, all-powerful, and eternally beautiful? After discovering historical romance novels, it was only natural that the supernatural and love/romance elements should someday meet in her wonderland of a brain. She’s glad they did for their children have been pouring onto the computer screen ever since.
She has been on the Amazon bestseller list multiple times, nominated for the Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award 2011, the winner of the 2006 RT Reviewers’ Choice Award, nominated for the 2007 RT Award, a Brava Novella Contest Finalist and a PAN member of RWA.
Michelle is a journalist for Paranormal Underground Magazine. She has a BGS in History/Business with an English Minor, and a Photography degree. In 2009 she and fellow author Mandy M. Roth started their own highly successful self-publishing endeavor named The Raven Books.
Michelle has titles published with The Raven Books, Pocket Books, Random House, Virgin Books, Adam’s Media, Samhain Publishing, Running Press, and more.
She loves to hear from readers. They can contact her through her website www.michellepillow.com.
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To learn more about Michelle M. Pillow please visit her website www.MichellePillow.com
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Divinity Warriors I: Lilith Enraptured by Michelle M. Pillow
Alternate Reality Romance
Sorin of Firewall lives in a land forever at war. In fact, the Starian men are so busy fighting, their marriage ceremony has been reduced to a “will of the gods” event where they simply pick a woman out of a lineup and claim her as a wife. With women becoming scarce, it’s necessary to trade the offworld Divinity Corporation for brides. Duty-bound to attend the ceremony, he has no intention of picking a bride, let alone one from another dimension. Duty-bound to attend the ceremony, he has no intention of picking a bride, let alone one from another dimension. That is, until he sees Lilith, the bewitching woman sent by the gods to reward—or punish?—him.
Lilith, a data analyst for Divinity, is betrayed by the Corporation and wakes up in a primitive, uncharted dimension filled with warriors who only know war and duty. But her initial fears of becoming a sex slave to a big beefy knight become all too real when a warrior of god-like proportions claims she’s his new woman. As Lilith discovers, there are worse fates than being the focus of Sorin’s skillful and earthy seduction.
Lilith Enraptured Excerpt
Sorin took several deep breaths, feeling as he did when about to go into battle. Heat filled him as tension worked its way into his limbs. With a single thought, he could will his body to spring into action. He could erase her from the world and end this before it started.
But it was too late. He was lost the moment he’d looked at her, had seen her big blue eyes staring at him in trepidation. No, he was lost before that, when he felt her looking at him, beckoning him with her unwavering gaze to find her in the crowd.
Temptress. Witch.
He willed the desire inside him to go away. It shouldn’t have been so strong. He’d relieved himself like he always did, had spilled his seed to ease the lonely ache.
Light from the fireplace shone through the white of her gown, silhouetting the long length of her legs and arms. The linen clung to her shoulders, swooping gently along the curves of her breasts—breasts that would be bare beneath. The tied hands were a new addition to the ceremony, thanks to Sir Aidan’s wayward woman, Lady Paige. Sorin’s barbaric side found he liked the addition.
Hunger rushed into every limb, lifting his cock beneath the long tunic. He didn’t think to hide the reaction. No one would care. It had been so long, so very long, since he’d had a woman in his bed. He suppressed a groan. Soft flesh. Round breasts. Taut nipples. Slick, warm vessel to catch his passion. That certain female smell when he pressed his nose to her sex.
A thought whispered in the back of his mind. Maybe she’s different. Maybe she’ll be better. Maybe this one will stay.
He cursed the thought. No. She wasn’t different. She wasn’t better. Sorin had made up his mind long ago. He’d come, he’d look, but he never, ever wanted to find someone. He wasn’t meant to have this, or her, or any kind of peace. Sorin was born into a land of war. He was made for it, every piece of him. One of the bloodiest battles in their history happened the very hour his mother gave birth to him.
Some were lucky to find peace in marriage, but not him. Tradition and necessity dictated he come to these ceremonies and try to find someone. He came from a noble line, a position of power, one that demanded he have sons to carry on his family’s name. But society could not make him choose. It could not make him step forward and lay claim.
“Mine.”
Where did that word come from? It sounded like his voice, booming over the hall to quiet all who watched into stunned silence. It felt like his body refusing to go to his place at the table, instead moving forward with arm uplifted to point at the blonde-haired beauty. But it couldn’t be his body or his voice. That would mean he’d just announced his claim. Everyone would have heard it. He couldn’t back out once the word was said.
“Sorin?” his younger brother, Ronen, hissed. Like Sorin, Ronen led one of the more renowned armies in all of Staria. Very few would dare to challenge their word or honor and the fact made it even more impossible for Sorin to take back what he’d done.
“Mine,” Sorin found himself repeating. Was he possessed? What madness was this? He kept walking toward her. She merely stared at him, those wide, gorgeous eyes capturing his. Straight blonde hair hung long down her back, just as a woman’s should.
“Brother?” Ronen questioned. The shock was evident in his voice. Sorin couldn’t blame him for the surprise because that very day he’d been instructing Ronen to stay strong and not fall for a woman’s pretty face. And what did Sorin do? He claimed a woman with a pretty face.
The hall remained quiet. Sorin stopped before the woman, noting with pleasure that she didn’t cringe and fall away from his looming presence. Her strength would serve her well. Years of frustrated desires surged inside him. He couldn’t put them off any longer. Deny it as he might, he needed a woman. He would never admit the words out loud. The need was not just for physical release, but for the softness of her, the sweet smell and the temporary relief from the endless fighting that such a creature could bring.
You tried this before, Sorin. Such things are not for you.
Fool.
Idiot.
Weak.
His accusing thoughts infuriated. Reaching for her bound arms, he took hold of the ropes. Not even his condescending inner voice could stop his actions. Sorin held her gaze steady, stating so she couldn’t mistake his claim, “You are mine.”
For a complete, up-to-date booklist, visit www.MichellePillow.com
Divinity Warriors IV: Taking Karre by Michelle M. Pillow
Alternate Reality Romance
Sir Vidar of Spearhead is too busy guarding the borderlands to bother with the headache of selecting a bride. Ordered to marry by the king, he plans to grab a woman and get back to the warfront, never to think of it again. That is until he meets the alluring Lady Karre with her teasing eyes, lush lips and irresistible ways.
Known by many names, inter-dimensional thief Karre, has only one purpose—take down the company that ruined her life. When her luck runs out and she’s caught, Divinity Corporation condemns her to matrimony on a primitive, warrior-filled plane where Karre soon discovers there are worse fates than being the sexual prisoner to a man with insatiable ca
rnal appetites.
Before long, days and nights filled with a surfeit of sexual bliss becomes something neither expected, and when Karre is taken, Vidar is forced to confront emotions a battle-hardened warrior never expected to feel.
Taking Karre Prologue Excerpt
Three weeks ago, Dimensional Plane 395, Adult Pleasure Centre VWH
Because right now, in this moment, she was their fantasy.
Karre marched out on stage in red stiletto heels, a slinky dress, big grin and nothing else. She kept tempo with the hard, drumming beat of music. Men hollered, whooping their excitement just to see her. She smiled at them, looking over the crowd of heads. She could make them do anything—beg, buy, steal, kill—because right now, in this moment, she was their fantasy.
Blonde hair piled high on her head, garnished with a string of diamonds and rubies some suitor had given her. It was a sweet trinket, one she might even keep, not that she would remember where the jewels came from. She traveled too much and had more important things on her mind.
Karre turned slowly with her arms raised above her head. The hem of her short dress lifted to just below the curve of her ass. When her back was to the crowd, she bent forward. The cheering grew as the men got a peek of the naked treasure hidden beneath the clinging silver. What did she care if they saw her ass? Her pussy? Her breasts? They were just skin, flesh, a tool like any other. No matter how much they wanted her, they would never be able to touch her.
Fighting Lady Jayne (Divinity Warriors 2) Page 19
