Fates Divided

by Jules Barnard

  Her sensitive, magical fingertips ran over his shoulders and down his sides to the gap between his T-shirt and jeans. She rubbed a slow circle against his bare skin, and the press of his mouth intensified.

  She pulled gently away. “Stay with me tonight?” This time, it had nothing to do with protection or comfort. She was safe for now. She just wanted him.

  “’Course,” he mumbled, and returned to kissing her, his lips moving down her throat to the top of her breasts—

  A cell phone rang.

  Derek stilled at the base of her throat as if considering whether or not to answer it, then sighed.

  He sat up and pulled out his phone, glancing over with a look of apology. “My dad. I’d better get this.” He put the phone to his ear, but before answering the call he pointed a finger at her. “Do not move. We will continue our conversation in a moment.”

  She grinned at the hidden meaning, and used the break to grab a glass of water from the kitchen.

  While Elena stood behind the peninsula drinking her water, she thought about how Tirnan had changed her too. Becoming a doctor had been her goal, until she realized it was her family’s dream, not hers. Having the power to help people the way she did in Tirnan settled something deep inside her. For the first time in her life, something else interested her besides science—the mixing of science and magic. Alchemy.

  The tone of the call on the other side of the room changed and Elena glanced up.

  “I’m not going anywhere, Dad,” Derek said.

  He’d mentioned that his dad hadn’t relented on trying to convince him to attend a better school. Because Derek didn’t want to tell his parents about the Fae, his reasons for remaining at Dawson escaped them.

  “I like it here and I’m plenty challenged with the coursework. My girlfriend’s here, and I have no intention of leaving her.”

  Elena’s fingers gripped the glass, her heart thumping rapidly. No one had ever referred to her as their girlfriend. In some ways, she and Derek were so much more than boyfriend and girlfriend, but the reference made her giddy just the same.

  “Yeah, sure. I’ll call in a week and let you know the name of my replacement advisor. Tell Mom hi.”

  Elena waited until they were secluded in her bedroom before she asked him about the phone call. Lying on their sides atop the comforter and facing each other, she said, “Did you mean it? What you told your dad?”

  “Nah.” The side of his mouth kicked up as he tucked back an escapee curl that had fallen across her eye.

  “Oh.” She tried to not look disappointed.

  “Dawson’s classes aren’t all that challenging, but what I learn from the Fae will be. Besides, it looks like I’ll be needed in Old Kingdom.”

  Her forehead puckered. She didn’t like the idea of Derek returning to Old Kingdom. “That doesn’t sound like a good—”

  He leaned over and silenced her with a peck on the lips. “Either that, or we risk another dictator ruling. The Fae live a long time, Elena. I can’t do that to the Oldlanders. And who knows. Maybe having a Halven as their king will endear us to them?” When she continued to frown, he added. “Okay, probably not. But think of it this way: I’ll be able to update the plumbing.”

  That would be an improvement, but she couldn’t smile when gripped by fear for his safety. She lived with enough anxiety over her mother and Reese. “Are you sure you have to be their leader?”

  “For now, yeah. Being a king in Faeland wasn’t my dream, but maybe I can do good there. I’m not subject to their long history of war against each other. A Halven as leader could help smooth things over. I’d be able to rule with wisdom, instead of emotion and power in mind.”

  She ran her fingers through his hair. Not happy, but also understanding his point. “You would make a great king. I just don’t want to lose you.”

  Replacing Niall with an even more barbaric ruler wasn’t the solution. Until they found someone else, Derek was their best option. And who knew, maybe this was his calling the way alchemy was hers.

  Elena thought about the rest of Derek’s conversation with his father and ducked her head into his shoulder, hiding her face. “But when I said, ‘Did you mean it,’ I meant what you said about your girlfriend.”

  He leaned back and rolled her on top of him. “I love you, Elena.” His heart pounded beneath the hand she had pressed to his chest. “When I’m not near you, I’m thinking about you and wondering how long until I see you again. When I’m with you, I’m thinking of ways to get close and touch you, even if it’s only to hold you. And when you smile…I wonder if there is anything more beautiful in the world. Make that worlds.” He grinned.

  His words stole her breath. He loved her.

  She stroked his brow with her fingertip, and bent to kiss his lips with every spine-tingling, happy emotion he stirred in her.

  And then the full magnitude of what he’d said kicked in, and she smiled so widely her cheeks ached. She squirmed and bobbed giddily on top of him. “I have a boyfriend,” she said in a singsong voice.

  Derek grunted as a stray elbow landed on his ribs. He flipped her so she lay beneath him again. “How should we celebrate your first official relationship?” he asked in a deep, sexy voice, his hand snaking down her collarbone to the top of her breast.

  She smiled slyly. “By holding hands?”

  His palm stilled and he frowned, shaking his head.

  “Hmm… With a kiss?”

  He put his mouth on her neck and kissed and licked his way down. “Getting warmer,” he murmured.

  She tapped a finger on her mouth, trying not to move while his lips and hands made her face heat and her breath catch. “No hand-holding, but kissing is okay, yet not enough. What to do, what to do… I’ve got it. How about a heavy make-out session?”

  “Warmer still,” came his response from the general area of her belly button, where he’d lifted her top a few inches and exposed her skin. His hands continued their wonderfully tormenting path down her torso to her hips.

  She closed her eyes, breaths shaky and uneven as her stomach and thigh muscles clenched beneath his fingers. “Fine—you win.” She reached down and yanked his T-shirt over his head.

  He sat up as though affronted, his eyes sparkling. “Hey, I’m not that kind of guy.”

  She smiled. “You’re a terrible liar. Is that drool on the side of your mouth?”

  He raised his hand to his lip and grinned. She took that opportunity to shove his chest until he fell with little effort onto his back. Then she straddled him.

  Her fingers glided along the muscled landscape of his chest and stomach. “I like the new and improved Derek.” Was that her husky voice?

  Derek tried to frown, but she could see the smile creeping through. “Is that all I am to you? A hot body?”

  She looked up and scratched the side of her head. “Pretty much.” She leaned down to place a soft kiss on his mouth. “Are you okay with that?”

  “Fine by me.” He beamed.

  The next several seconds saw a frenzied loss of clothing.

  Derek’s large, hard, beautiful body loomed above her, the expression on his face thoughtful. He placed a gentle kiss on the corner of her mouth. “I was only joking about celebrating with sex. I just want to be near you. I don’t care what we do. Though this is amazing.”

  “I know that, and if I haven’t said so yet, I know you would never willingly betray me. I’m sorry I doubted you for even a moment. I love you, and I love that you’re my first boyfriend.”

  His arms tightened around her. He grinned widely. “And if I have my way—your last.”

  Afterword

  Dear Reader,

  * * *

  I’ve been working on Fates Divided for several years on and off, and I’m so happy to finally share it. If you have a moment, please leave a review. Reviews, even short ones, are a tremendous help to authors. Thank you so much!

  * * *

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  The next book in the Halven Rising Series is Fates Entwined. Grab it now, or read on for a sneak peek.

  * * *

  Cheers,

  Jules

  FATES ENTWINED

  Halven Rising, Book 2

  They can never be together. The notion is laughable. Humans are inferior, a scourge on the Fae and on the magic passed down to them by angels millennia ago. And if Keen finds himself drawn to the tiny human female, he keeps it to himself. He won’t add to the half-breed problem that threatens his people’s existence.

  * * *

  Reese can’t stand Keen. He criticizes her clothing, won’t answer a straight question, and is too handsome for her peace of mind.

  * * *

  Her entire life, people have pegged Reese for a shallow, ditzy blond. She won’t accept the stereotype from the large, arrogant Fae too. But after Keen saves her life, she begins to question what truly lies beneath his stoic demeanor.

  * * *

  Forced together, Keen and Reese fight to survive among enemies, and Keen makes choices Reese couldn’t have predicted. She glimpses a side of him that is protective and dangerously seductive.

  * * *

  But Keen refuses to acknowledge their connection.

  Until he’s faced with the decision to betray his people, or lose Reese forever.

  Preview: Fates Entwined

  Reese woke with the mother of all hangovers. The inside of her mouth felt like cotton, and her head pounded so hard that white lights winked behind her eyelids with every heartbeat. She lifted her face off a wool rug that reeked of arthritic dog, and peered around the unfamiliar room. White wicker furniture with floral cushions surrounded her—definitely not a student dorm.

  Where the hell was she?

  Reese waited for the spinning to ease before attempting to push up to a sitting position. She was sprawled in the center of the room like someone had dumped her there. Given the soreness in her hipbone and the right side of her face, anything was possible.

  She rubbed her eyes, thinking back. The last thing she remembered was going to the fraternity party by herself. And, granted, it had been a stupid move to go alone. But there was no way she was staying home the night of her eighteenth birthday. That was just pitiful. Her roommate Elena had said she would meet her there, but Elena never showed.

  Even more distressing, Reese couldn’t remember much after she’d arrived at the party. The last thing she recalled was taking a shot of alcohol.

  Footsteps sounded down a dimly lit hallway on her right and Reese’s heartbeat picked up. She tried to rise to a sitting position, but her body wasn’t cooperating.

  Two men entered the room…and last night—how wrong this situation was—came crashing down over her.

  Her breath sawed in and out of her chest. Her hands grew cold and her stomach rolled with nausea.

  The first man—handsome, middle-aged—studied her like she was some kind of insect. But that wasn’t what had her freaking out. It was the younger man beside him: the hot fraternity guy she’d met at the party, before everything went blank.

  “Whoa.” A handsome guy with dark hair and wearing a rugby shirt rubbed his eyes dramatically after Reese entered the fraternity house. “Can I get your picture? I want to prove to my friends that angels really exist. Here—” He handed her a shot glass of something purple while his gaze traveled down her body in the tight red dress her mother had picked out on their last shopping excursion.

  The fraternity guy’s pickup line was pure cheese, but she hadn’t cared at the time. She’d needed the attention of some innocuous, nameless boy. It had been a hell of week.

  Reese had learned that Elena, her roommate and closest friend at Dawson, was half Fae. Fae!

  What was a Fae, anyway? All Reese knew was that Elena suddenly had the ability to change water and other compounds and elements into different forms—because that wasn’t weird. If Reese hadn’t seen Elena make water boil with a wave of her hand, she wouldn’t have believed it. Then there was Elena’s Viking-looking Fae bodyguard who’d been sleeping on their couch the last few nights. As if learning her friend was part Fae wasn’t bad enough, Reese had to discover that Fae men were just as self-centered as human guys.

  Not an uplifting realization.

  Considering her fragile mental state after all these bombshells, Reese shouldn’t have gone to the party by herself.

  And now she wished she’d been more careful before she snatched the shot glass from the hot fraternity guy. Because inside this unfamiliar room, with the two men staring down at her, fraternity guy wasn’t looking at her with admiration anymore.

  He wore a white button-down—no more rugby shirt—and his hair was combed back instead of haphazardly ruffled the way it had been at the party. More important, his smooth-shaven cheeks and angular jaw were set in hard lines, a touch of repulsion in his expression.

  This wasn’t right. Not right at all.

  Reese moved to stand, but couldn’t bear weight on her arms or legs, and she wound up slumping to the ground.

  It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the fraternity guy had put something in the shot glass at the party. She hadn’t been there long enough to drink anything else. That was the only explanation for why she couldn’t remember anything afterward. And why she still struggled to move.

  “Did I pass out or something?” She leaned on her elbows, her hands shaking like crazy, from the drug he must have slipped her, from fear—she didn’t know. In any case, her hands gave the lie to her ditzy words. But she’d be damned if she’d admit how frightened she was.

  The older man crouched before her, his dark eyes intent, as though cataloging her features. His mouth, cut in a straight line, and lightly creased face gave nothing away, but she got the distinct feeling he was angry.

  He reached out and Reese attempted to scoot away, but her body shook violently and she barely moved an inch. He caught her arm and slid his hand down to the coiled-snake bracelet her mother had given her when she was a girl.

  His gaze met hers, some fathomless, eerie emotion in its dark brown depths.

  Reese swallowed past the cotton mouth and tried to pry herself from his grip.

  He released her abruptly and she fell back. “Keep her alive. For now,” he said to the younger man, “we’ll bring her with us.” He turned and started walking away.

  Keep her alive?

  Elena needed a bodyguard for reasons she wouldn’t explain to Reese. Did this have anything to do with that? Did these men think they could get to Elena by capturing Reese?

  She ignored the pain in her head and glanced around frantically. The drapes were drawn and the place seemed empty. No one to call out to, no place to hide… “There’s been some mistake,” she said.

  Halfway to the hallway, the older man didn’t slow or acknowledge her.

  Before she could make a move—even if she could get her limbs to work—the fraternity guy crouched in front of her and pulled out a syringe.

  “Wait. Don’t do this!” Reese’s voice rose with each word, her tone no longer smooth and calm.

  Without pausing, the fraternity jerk jabbed the needle in her arm.

  She stared at it sticking up, felt the cold of its contents releasing into her system, before everything blurred and the world disappeared.

  …read more of

  Fates Entwined (Book 2)

  Acknowledgments

  I want to give a HUGE shout-out to my critique partner, Lia Riley. Poor girl read many early renditions of this story until I got it right. Special thanks to Lauren Layne, A.J. Pine, and Megan Erickson for your insightful beta reads. Major thank-you to my production team: Laura Ownbey, Martha Trachtenberg, Shelley Bates, Rebecca Weston, Arra
n McNicol, Alyssa Kress, Ana R. for the cover, and Ke for the super-cool Tirnan fantasy map at the beginning of the book. And last but not least, I want to thank Blanca A. for her Spanish curse word tutelage. Mateo’s dialog wouldn’t have been the same without it.

  Books by Jules Barnard

  HALVEN RISING SERIES

  Fates Altered (Prequel)

  Fates Divided (Book 1)

  Fates Entwined (Book 2)

  Fates Fulfilled (Book 3)

  * * *

  CHECK OUT JULES’S CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE TITLES AT:

  WWW.JULESBARNARD.COM

  About the Author

  RITA-nominated author Jules Barnard began her publishing career in 2014 with her first contemporary series, making it onto romance bestseller lists. In 2015, she launched Fates Divided, the first of a romantic fantasy series Library Journal calls “…an exciting new fantasy adventure.” Whether she’s writing about beautiful Lake Tahoe or a Fae world embedded in a college campus, Jules spins suspenseful stories filled with realistic characters who have heart and humor.

  * * *

  When Jules isn’t in her sweatpants writing and rewarding herself with chocolate, she spends her time with her husband and two children in their small hometown on the California coast. She credits herself with the ability to read while running on the treadmill or burning dinner.

  For more information: Visit Jules’s website