by Parker Foye
They'll tell you that one of the ghosts came to town on the trail of a killer and ended up loving him. Or that the killer tricked him into it, when they wore another skin. Or else they'll yammer about a hunter tracking big game into the old mines, the ones they filled in back when your grandmama was Sheriff, and how they didn't never come back out. They didn't have manners, they'll say, and nod. You'll understand.
Some people will say not to look at the old lighthouse too close to dusk, and to cover your ears when merfolk start with their sad songs under the dark of the moon. The ghost used to be one of them, see, and he's cursed to walk on land since turning his lover into a ghost like him. He traded his skin for gold, some say, and can't return to the sea until he finds it.
Come last call at the Seven Stars, though, someone might see fit to tell you different. If you're the type fit to hear. It being so, they might whisper to you how a witch married those two ghosts, the one with salt in his heart and the one who loved him, with only merfolk bearing witness. They'll tell you fisher folk came back the next morning with their nets full to bursting, though winter had long since come in by then, and every one of them found a pearl as big as your eye. If you're lucky, they'll tell you about the dented star and green glass rock sitting somewhere in the lighthouse, and how come no one mines for secrets in Lastings no more.
About the Author
Parker Foye (they/them) writes queer speculative-flavoured romance and believes in happily ever after, although sometimes their characters make achieving this difficult.
An education in Classics nurtured a love of heroes, swords, monsters, and beautiful people doing stupid things while wearing only scraps of leather. You’ll find those things in various guises in Parker’s stories, along with kissing (often) and explosions (messy). And more shifters than you can shake a stick at.
Parker lives in Oxford, UK, and travels regularly via planes, trains, and an ever-growing library.
Visit their website at http://www.parkerfoye.com.
Also by Parker Foye
Beating the Bounds
Jamie has recently moved to Marlstrake, a small village in Northumberland, and she’s looking forward to a quiet country life. After a chance encounter with Lyn, a local resident, Jamie agrees to attend a parish council meeting about the coming Halloween Festival for the sake of getting to know Lyn better.
But the council leader is Margaret, Lyn’s ex, and she’s not remotely happy to see Jamie and Lyn getting along so well. If she wants the girl and the quiet life, Jamie is first going to have to survive curses, shapeshifters, and somehow save her love from being sacrificed to the Faerie.
Dust on the Wing
Captain Tam spends his life travelling through space on his beloved ship, the Paradigm Princess, and he likes nothing better than being alone with the horizon. However, when a routine stop on his favourite planet brings an unexpected new crew member, he breaks routine and agrees to take her on board—because if Tam plays this through, the powerful Marquis will owe him a favour. Surely that'sthat’s worth a detour.
Flight and Fancy
in Valves & Vixens v.3
Thomas Whitlock needs a stall at the Ascension Day market if he’s going to make enough money to leave Newcastle for the south. When his latest negotiations with costermongers fail to produce anything but animosity, Thomas permits himself an evening to forget his troubles—only to find a different sort of trouble when he meets Smythe. A creature of the travelling night market, compelling and enigmatic, Smythe draws Thomas to him despite his misgivings. Will Thomas be able to resist Smythe and salvage his reputation? Or, like his clockwork contraptions, will Thomas’s desire take on a life of its own?
Mage of Inconvenience
Can they find the magic in a practical union?
West is on the run from his werewolf pack, but if he cannot renew his magical defenses, he won’t get far. What he needs is a mage….
Julian is part of a wealthy and ancient family, and one day, his legacy will include his mother’s vast library of spell books—and the knowledge he needs to correct his past mistakes. But his inheritance comes with a stipulation: he has to be married before he can collect. What he needs is a husband….
West and Julian can help each other, and at first they don’t want anything further. But as they dodge meddling cousins, jealous rivals, and an insidious drug, it becomes clear that their lives are entwined in ways they never imagined—and they’re in greater danger than they thought possible.
Pastures New
After a successful career as Illustrious Ruckus, three-time winner of the British Open, James Kirby has hung up his saddle. His experience as a horse in the eventing world doesn’t exactly translate to two legs, and he’s struggling to move on. James’s quiet days at the family farm with his sister, Matilda, are interrupted by Archie Ievins, a sports journalist visiting to interview Matilda and snap a few photos of Illustrious Ruckus. Archie quickly endears himself to the family and to “Ruckus,” and James falls head over hooves—only to be brought up short when his ex-boyfriend threatens to expose James’s secret. How can James start something new when he has four legs threatening to come out of the closet?
Red Between the Lines
Wynfield, a washed-up former Corpsman with optical bioware and a healthy chip on his shoulder, is reluctantly drawn into a conspiracy to take down Nutrindustry, the company responsible for both his ‘upgrade’ from human and the city’s food shortage.
Playing clinic doctor for the day, Yeven doesn’t expect the mouthy former pilot and their begrudging attraction–nor the fresh twist of shame for his part in Nutrindustry’s past. He needs Wynfield, though, and for more than his smart mouth. Feelings would just get in the way.
In a world where the line between man and metal is thin, there’s more happening behind the scenes than even Wynfield’s enhanced optics are able to see.
Ward & Weft
in the same universe as Wolf in King’s Clothing
Wales, 1912
For generations, the magic wardens and the fierce werewolves combined forces to keep their enemies at bay. But when his family breaks longstanding ties to the pack that’s been a part of his life since birth, warden Griffith Jones sets out on a journey to learn all he can of the magic that will reunite them. And reunite Griffith with the first—and only—man he’s ever loved.
Llywelyn ap Hywel, son of the alpha, can’t let painful—or passionate—memories of Griffith distract him. His dwindling pack is in trouble, reeling from loss and locked in a grim battle with a dangerous rival—a pack with a warden who hasn’t abandoned them. A warden whose dark magic could destroy them all.
Up against enemies determined to steal their land and end life as they know it, Griffith and Llywelyn must fight as one to protect all they hold dear—their territory, their people and the fiery love they can no longer deny.
Wolf in King’s Clothing
York, England, 1912
Kent was a pack outcast. His shifter instincts cruelly muted, he was collared and kept as a stray. Until he was offered his freedom—for something in return. He must rescue Hadrian, an alpha held hostage in the wolf highlands. It’s a pleasure for Kent to follow the captive’s scent, one so wild and virile it gives him a rush. Though he despises being treated like a mutt called to heel, he’ll gladly fall to his knees for an alpha like Hadrian.
Hadrian has never met anyone like this damaged wolf warrior. His savior who licks the blood from his wounds and who arouses in him feelings he doesn’t understand or want to control. But Hadrian suspects that more than desire binds them. It’s betrayal. Pawns in an elaborate and feral deceit, they’re now caught in the deepening maze of a vengeful shifter world, where navigating the mysteries of the heart could prove just as unpredictable and dangerous as the enemies they face.
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