Morgana's Handmaid and the Creature of the Dungeon
Page 21
After another hour or so, he just stopped breathing and expired. So tired and frail, only his eyes could smile back at me; and as the sun rose on yet another day, I saw his chest stop rising and falling, the breath no longer escaping his lips. His body became cold, and his eyes, which had been fixed on me the whole time, seemed to stare distantly as though he no longer saw me looking down at him. He was finally gone; and with his passing I’ve been here all by myself ever since…
So, here I sit, knitting and enjoying the remaining years of my life. I’m the old woman of the woods, and that’s my story, best as I can remember it to you as I, too, grow old and frail. Once upon a time I was Morgana’s lovely handmaid, now I’m gray and haggard. I’m decrepit and nearly blind in one eye. My fingers can barely make the loops when I knit, but I just keep on knitting, rocking in my chair, and waiting for God to call me back home. One day, probably soon, or maybe many years from now for all I know, I’ll go up to Heaven, too, and join my loving Alguin and his wife Allora.
I bet they’re happy together up there, those two. And it comforts me to think when I, too, finally pass away and cross over to the other side, that lovely Allora will greet me as an equal. She’ll take me to see my lover Alguin, and I’ll be able to embrace him fully and passionately once again. In Heaven, we will no longer be aged and broken down from the weight of the world. We’ll be young and beautiful like we once were so many years ago. I’ll be in my handmaid’s dress, or even the lovely dress I crafted for working in the tavern with Bedemer and his daughters. Alguin will be wearing one of the new robes I knitted for him. He’ll be younger and handsome, as I like to remember him. I, too, will be gorgeous and voluptuous like I once was.
For a while he’ll hold me in his arms and kiss me softly. Then I’ll release his embrace and turn toward his lovely Allora once more, out of respect to his original wife. I picture her returning to his side, standing there smiling at me. She’ll smile at me warmly, too, reaching out to squeeze my hands, and thank me for taking such good care of her man until they could be together once again.
God will beckon me then, to come forward and be reunited with everyone I’ve ever known in life. Morgana will be there, Gwynevere will be arm-in-arm with both Arthur and Lancelot flanking her, just like in the old days. Bedemer and all the people from the tavern who’ve since crossed over…they’ll be there, too. My father, my mother, my brothers, M’lady, the Miller’s son, the Duchess Lorelei, the chandler, the cook’s boy, Eustace, Ywedelle, Rowena and Aiden, maybe even Gilbert will grace the scene with his presence!
And as I stand there; all the wonderful friends I’ve made over the years will one by one come forward. We’ll come together and have a laugh, a hug, a kiss, maybe catch up on things a bit. We’ll remember old times. Oh, yes, it will be so very beautiful that day, don’t you see?
It’s just a dream I like to have sometimes….
Coming in November 2018 to Torrid Books!
The next enthralling story from Author Purple Hazel!
The Wild Fields
An Epic Romance Novel Set in 16th Century Russia!
Ludmilla is a young farmer’s daughter living in southern Russia during the Russo Crimean Wars. Motherless since age three and with five older brothers constantly tormenting her about her gender; she eventually develops into a strapping, freakishly strong, and quite intelligent field worker on her father’s barley farm. Shedding her identity as a girl completely by age thirteen, she dresses like a man, walks like a man—even smells a lot like one, too.
Then one day she goes into town and sees the most beautiful girl she’s ever laid eyes upon. It is Tatyana: daughter to the local innkeeper and a quite effervescent teenager almost exactly Ludmilla’s age. Tatyana has practically grown up working in the family’s tavern, serving ale and vodka to drunken men who have slowly but surely begun treating her like a common trollop when they’ve had too much to drink. Motherless since age ten; she never had time for friends growing up. Never had time for a boyfriend either. Eventually she has become inured to the fact she might just turn into an old maid some day running the business when her own father passes on.
They fall in love; and as their love quickly blossoms into full acceptance of each other’s identity and sexuality, tragedy is visited upon them in the form of the Great Tatar Invasion of 1571. This horrific event turns not just theirs but the lives of over 170,000 fellow Russians upside down.
Captured and forced into slavery, Ludmilla becomes a common field hand working on a cotton plantation in northern Turkey. Tatyana becomes a concubine in the royal palace of the Grand Sultan in Istanbul. Yet before they are parted, Ludmilla makes a solemn vow to her lover:
“Stay alive. No matter what they do to you, just survive. Someday, whatever it takes, I will come for you!”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Purple Hazel
…is King and Caroline Medlin from Denver, Colorado.
Purple is Caroline’s favorite color. Hazel is the color of her eyes. They fell in love, and King started writing short stories to Caroline while they were dating. Eventually, the stories got better and better, so they started writing full-length novels.
Starting with Star Kitten in the fall of 2015, they have now written twelve books including The Wild Fields, Streets of Bursa, Morgana’s Handmaid and the Elixir of Dreams, Morgana’s Handmaid and the Creature of the Dungeon, Spanish Posse (a four-part serial), and Twin Paradox (a SciFi trilogy). These are erotic romances using fictional characters in real-life situations amidst the backdrop of actual events that shaped world history, or are gleaned from classical literature.
People and places may very well color our notion of the moral principles that people follow or ignore; yet King and Caroline feel only true love endures all things. It’s what really matters in the grand scheme of things. Therefore, LOVE is all they write about. Love, devotion, and the desire to find a companion to accompany us through life’s many trials, tribulation, and the best of all those moments of profound joy that give life meaning: that’s what it’s about!
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TORRID BOOKS
www.torridbooks.com