“Well?” Ellonlef insisted playfully.
Shaking off gloomy thoughts, Kian gazed at her, enraptured, willfully falling into her dark, liquid eyes. All that mattered now was in front of him. “When will winter end?” he muttered, putting on the face of a doddering magus. “Dear one, winter will end when it always does, with the arrival of spring.”
She rolled her eyes and laughed a girl’s delighted laugh. Azuri and Hazad, breaking through the snow at the head of a string of pack horses, added their mirth to hers. Kian found himself laughing as well.
For the first time in many long days, he felt absolutely alive and whole. Laughter shared with lifelong friends, and the woman he still had to trick into marrying him, drove back the cold and the threat of coming hardships, left him as warm as if he were tucked away in a cozy home before a roaring hearth fire.
Such was his simple hope, and in that hope he rested.
So ends the first volume of
Heirs of the Fallen
If you enjoyed this novel, please consider posting a helpful online review at Amazon and everywhere else eBooks are sold! I would greatly appreciate it, as would future fans!
For all my current fans, thanks so much for reading, and may all your journeys be exciting!
James
About James
James A. West is the bestselling author of the epic fantasy series Heirs of the Fallen, and the heroic fantasy series Songs of the Scorpion.
Between gritty quests, he recently decided to dip a toe into the primordial sludge from whence he sprang, and penned the dystopian thriller, Beasts of the Field.
James is a native of the Pacific Northwest, but life is a road of many turns. He served in the US Army, spent a year as a long-haul truck driver with his wife (who also happens to be his high-school sweetheart), and attended the University of Montana.
He lives in Montana with his wife. His bodyguard, a Mini-Schnauzer named Jonesy, is always near to hand. James has been known to work for chips and salsa.
While James spends most of his time navigating alternate realities, he periodically comes up for air at: jamesawest.blogspot.com
The God King (Book 1) (Heirs of the Fallen) Page 25
