by C A Nicks
His dark eyes remained unfathomable. What they hid, she couldn’t tell, but something lurked behind that shaded gaze. Something that wanted more than the black-market disposal of a priceless art-work.
“Covet? That’s an odd word to use, Mr…? I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced.”
He laughed at that, showing well cared for, even teeth. No hint of gold, which would have cheapened the effect of his understated wealth. In his mid-thirties, if she was any judge so he’d either had access to good food or expensive implants.
“My name is Marcellus Lucimanticus Persidio of Alurides,” he replied without hesitation. “I go by the title of prince. Or at least I used to. True-brother to the great Fabian, most noble lord of the seven plateaus.”
The prince didn’t even register. The seven plateaus? Of course, now it fell into place. She’d transposed the v and the t on the glyphs. Misinterpreted the code. Fabian’s true history had been written for a select few, and this man, it seemed, was among them.
What was she thinking? A clever guess on his part, nothing more. Who would name themselves lord of a plateau, of all things?
“Anxur was the third moon of the great ocean-world of Tessala and Fabian was master of it all. Until…” He shook his head, closing his eyes briefly as if remembering. When he reopened them he looked resigned, defeated almost. Nothing like a man sitting on a small fortune in archaeological contraband.
“You still think you’re his brother, huh?” She couldn’t get over his face, the resemblance to the etching, the image on the plates. “Why offer it to me? Why not Viper, or Hexagon, assuming they aren’t behind this whole thing? Is this a set-up?”
The man shook his head, slowly as if he couldn’t believe her response. A flash of annoyance crossed his features. He sucked in a deep breath, and tried again. “It’s no set-up. I acted alone and I’m offering you the etching in return for information about my brother. What is so difficult to understand about that?”
“Well, for one thing, if Viper or Hexagon did engineer the theft and you’re double-crossing them, neither of us will live to tell the tale. You don’t mess with the big corps. Not in that way.”
“You would like me to take it to them, to offer it in return for coin? To have it disappear from your view and never be seen again?”
“No.” She almost put out an arm to stop him, while at the same time getting the distinct impression he was going nowhere. His words held no conviction. For some reason known only to him, he was willing to hand over a priceless artefact in return for information he could have found for the price of her book.
Too tempting an offer to resist. Glancing at her watch, she saw it was already twelve o’ clock. She didn’t dare cancel another lecture. Not with the review-counsel meeting looming and a place on the Board up for grabs.
“How much do you want?” She was going to hell in a handcart for this, no doubt about that. But she’d go there clutching the image of the man who’d fascinated her and filled her dreams for longer than she cared to remember.
The man winced and hissed in a breath, touching his injured hand, as if confused by the pain. “I want no coin from you. Merely to know where my brother can be found. Tell me that and I will make your fortune, Dr. Evans. Reputation and fame, I read your book. Is that not what you crave? ”
“You read the book, you tell me.” Walk away, her good sense screamed at her. Stay, the archaeologist and historian said softly. His words, the way he spoke them with such sincerity. Was he the real thing, or the best liar she’d ever met?
“Your falling man theory. Do you know how close you are to the truth?”
Dammit, no, she didn’t. The truth could be just around the corner or a million miles away. She could be walking in the wrong direction and never find it.
The man pulled at his tie, agitated by more than her refusal to take him seriously. Late autumn and sweat beaded his brow, vivid colour stained his high cheekbones. “The Dark Fall, do you know what that is? I can tell you. Explain every detail to you.”
“And why would you be able to do that? Are you all right? You’re looking mighty flushed.”
“I can tell you because I’ve experienced it. I am one of your falling men, as you call us.”
“Okay, I can see now you have a fever. You’re raving, Marcellus.” A twinge of disappointment accompanied the reality check. He’d probably already moved the etching on, or maybe he needed a sweetener, some bit of information only she could provide to help hike up the price?
“Get yourself to a medic, or at least to the pharmacy for an antibiotic shot. Blood poisoning can kill you in a heart-beat.” Where had he hidden the etching? If he was telling the truth and he keeled over on her, she’d never know.
“My blood is not poisoned. It cannot be, I am…”
Confusion again. He gathered himself as she was about to reach out and offer an arm to stop him collapsing on the pavement right at her feet. Lifting his face, he fixed her with a piercing stare that seemed to see every hope, every dream she’d ever had. A shiver ghosted over her skin and she knew exactly what he would say next.
“You named us, you championed us. In all your time of study and research, tell me you never hoped to meet one of us? Tell me you don’t dream of that?”
“I have one hour,” she said making a decision she hoped was a professional one. “If you can stay upright that long, then we’ll talk in a public place and over lunch. And you’re buying,” she added, remembering the generous tip he’d gifted John. “Come on, Mr. Marcellus, you can buy me lunch in the university refectory. You have one hour to convince me that what you just said wasn’t the raving of a fever-addled or drugged-up brain.”
“Thank you.”
He looked so pathetically grateful for a hearing, she almost laughed. As long as they stayed public, she was in no danger.
Not the university refectory. Not with the etching involved. “In here,” she said, pointing to the giant plastic confectionary hanging on a pole outside the Chocolate Meringue Café. “We may as well do this in style since you’re paying.”
“Chocolate Meringue?” the man said, eyes narrowed in an effort to read the sign. “What’s a chocolate meringue?”
“Heaven on earth, Mr. Marcellus. It’s heaven on earth.”
End of sample
Lords of the Dark Fall, Book 2 - Marcellus is available from all amazon outlets.
Bio
Thank you for reading Lords of the Dark Fall, Book on, Fabian. I live within sight of the Lancashire moors with my family, cats and vast collection of musical instruments. Saturday nights are likely to find me in some spooky mansion or castle indulging in my hobby as a paranormal investigator. I write romance that’s tightly focussed on the main characters and their emotional journey. I also write as Alexandra Marell
Please note, I’m rebranding all my Candy Nicks books as C.A. Nicks, but Candy Nicks and C.A. Nicks are the same person.
Find out more about my two pen names C.A. Nicks and Alexandra Marell at my website www.candyandalexandra.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/#!/authorCandyNicks.AlexandraMarell
Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/candynalexm
C.A. Nicks / Candy Nicks current book list.
Lords of the Dark Fall
Immortal lords from a far distant place are made to take the Dark Fall, a rift that cycles through space and time. The books follow their new lives as humans in a strange land, and the women they meet who might just take the sting out of losing their immortality.
Book 1 Fabian
Alone in a strange world and newly human, Fabian meets Tig, a poor potter and farmer trying to get by in a land ruled by warlords and marauding gangs. Her first thought is to turn him in for the reward, her second is that his family might pay a handsome reward to get him back. But as she grows closer to this confused, displaced warrior, she wonders if she can ever let him go. Fabian wants only to go home. But his new human conscience and meeting with Tig makes him qu
estion everything he ever held dear.
Can a tyrant really reform? If he found a mage strong enough to get him home, would he go, knowing he would have to leave Tig behind? 110,000 words
Book 2 Marcellus
Marcellus, former immortal prince of Anxur is desperately searching for his brother and despairs of ever finding him. Until the day he wanders into a museum to get out of the rain and bumps into archaeologist Cassandra Evans…
After following his brother in the Dark Fall, Marcellus lands in a park in the university town of Ellinburgh. Fate leads him to archaeologist Cassandra Evans, a woman who seems to be his best lead to finding out what happened to his brother, Fabian. Obsessed with her theories of the falling men and her studies of Fabian the Great, Cassandra is stunned when his double accosts her in a museum. He calls himself Marcellus and claims to be a time traveller, one of her falling men. A man who could be her direct link to Fabian the Great, if only she can bring herself to believe his story… 106,000 words
The Interview Series
Book One - The Interview
Part One - The Interview
Fay is a demon hunter, but that doesn't pay the bills. She needs a job and is shocked when she sees who's interviewing. Dane is the one vampire she's never been able to kill and after one hot, and very intense afternoon together, she finds out why.
Dane is desperate to show Fay there could be more between them than mind-blowing sex in the shadows. All he has are a couple of hours to persuade her that she will return, despite what she says.
Part Two - After The Interview
Dane gets more than he bargains for when he encourages Fay to show her wild side in public. Who’d have thought the schoolmarm/librarian look could be so sexy? As they further explore their relationship, Fay and Dane both realise that falling for the enemy is becoming a real possibility.
30,000 words
Book Two - The Offer continues the story of Fay and Dane started in The Interview (book one of The Interview series. )
Fay learns the truth about Dane when an overseas trip to the past reawakens old ghosts. Dane knows what he wants from their relationship, but for her things are not so simple and a decision must be made. A decision which will be the first of many if she is to acknowledge her true feelings for this man she can’t seem to live without.
22, 500 words.
The Moon Child Series, Fantasy Romance
Book One, The Moon Child’s Wish
A love so alien, it could only be achieved by magic. When taken by slavers, Moon-Child Carine sees her best chance of survival in the Eagle Warrior who lies dying in the corner of the dirty slave cage. Trained in magic, she uses her Wish-in-Hand to save his life and then bonds with him, despite the fact that Moon-Children and the Tribes of the Eagle are natural enemies.
Ancel, famed Eagle warrior and champion of the tournaments, is furious when he realises what she's done and vows to resist the pull of the Bonding, even though his honour requires that he repay the gift of his life by protecting her. But the Wish has chosen well and as time passes Carine realises that their feelings for each other are not just based on magic - are they?
When she realises that she has the means to save him, she must examine her feelings and decide exactly what she's willing to sacrifice for this man who has come to mean everything to her. Is their love real, or just a madness brought about by the Bonding? And if it is, just what is she prepared to do in order to set him free?
67,000 words
Book Two - Lupine
Carine struggles to keep the truth about her soul from Ancel, but now eight years later, it seems the Goddess has truly abandoned her. And the Lupines, wolf/man shapeshifters who hold the secret of the Soul Cleansers, have been hunted out of existence. Or have they? One day a man with eyes the colour of gold appears, badly injured, at the Settlement walls. As they battle to save his life both Carine and Naima, Ancel's daughter, realise that he's a throwback to a time they thought long gone. Perhaps the key to Carine's salvation.
Finn has spent his whole life in captivity. Born with a special gift, he's been kept a slave and paraded for the amusement of the crowds. Until the day he makes his glorious bid for freedom. On the verge of death, he finds himself at the walls of one of the Settlements and is saved by a young woman called Naima who is determined to keep him alive.
Finn and Naima dream of a future together, but as he reveals his true identity, they realise that their happiness might have to be put aside for the greater good. Finn must heed a higher calling, and no matter how much he tries to deny it, he is bound by the will of the Goddess. Does he choose a life with Naima, or fulfil his destiny, knowing he might never see her again? And will Naima find the courage to let him go?
83,000 Words
Book Three - Tian's Guardian
Tian is the Goddess's little secret. A Lupine hidden from the world, she knows nothing of the ways of men other than the terrible tales her mother told of the father she has never met. A wolf/human shifter, Tian wants only to continue to live a life of freedom in the mountain hut she calls home. When her mother dies the magic that protected and cloaked Tian from the world dies too, leaving her vulnerable and alone. With no connection left to humanity, Tian decides to become the wolf and live out her life on the mountains she loves. But the Goddess has other plans for her. Plans that involve sending Sol, her most trusted Guardian, to claim Tian as his own. When Sol hears about Tian, he is more than peeved to find that he wasn't told of the Goddess's little secret, hidden in the mountains for so many years. He rides with all speed to claim her and offer his protection, but Tian has other ideas. She doesn't need protecting and certainly not by a man. With winter taking hold and threats looming on the horizon, Sol must find a way to win Tian's trust and convince her that she is as much woman as wolf. And that not all men are evil. Will he succeed before the threat closing in on them becomes real?
70,000 words
Historical Vampire Romance
Can I Keep You
When Kane picks up a runaway on the streets of Victorian England his only thought is to have a few days of amusement and a decent meal. He is a vampire, after all – it's what he does. But Laura has to be the most unconvincing whore he's ever met. She soon finds out that there are ways other than brute force and strength to bring a vampire to his knees. As time passes, she becomes the catalyst for his journey of redemption, bringing back all-too-painful memories of Harry, the gentle man he once was. It's not an easy road. Along the way they encounter forces of evil that have other plans for Laura and Kane. And the question neither of them really wants to answer hovers in the background. Does he turn her into a vampire like himself and risk losing her? Or will a human lifetime together be enough?
104, 000 Words
Space Opera Romance
To Protect A Prince
The Aluderia Chronicles - Book One
When the Lady Shula and the young Prince Cristan of Aluderia need urgent transport off-planet, there’s only one man for the job. Unfortunately, Captain Daniels, ace-pilot and super-stud extraordinaire, is just about to be beaten to a pulp by a creature three times his size for not paying his brothel-bill. To his great surprise, Shula steps forward and offers the credits he needs. To his even greater surprise she announces that she’s his wife and the child she’s holding is his.
The last thing Captain Daniels needs is a woman and a baby on board. Particularly one being chased across the galaxy by the most elite bounty hunters in the business. He has enough problems trying to stay one step ahead of the gangsters out to recover the debts he owes them.
Shula will do anything to save the child and when she offers sex in return for passage she activates the Aluderian marker, a hormone that can put men in thrall. Now Shula and Captain Daniels find themselves fighting to outrun their pursuers and the effect of the marker. Dan wants her on his own terms, not because he can’t help himself.
In order for prince Cristan to grow into a warrior capable of reclaiming his throne, Dan
must make a difficult decision. But, in doing so, he may just rediscover a man he thought lost and find a love he never thought would be his.
Copyright © 2012 C.A. Nicks
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written consent of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The right of C.A. Nicks to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First Published 2012 - Alinar Publishing LLP
All characters in this publication are purely fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Copyright © 2012 C.A. Nicks
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Lords of the Dark Fall, Book Two - MarcellusPrologue
