by Kyra Halland
Silas identified five different card games in progress. Most of them seemed to be casual games played as much for fun and bragging rights as for money, but one was much more serious. The men playing didn’t talk to each other or flirt with the house ladies gathered around, and they were the best-dressed men in the saloon.
Of course, that was the game Lainie headed for.
The house ladies surrounding the table moved apart, making room for Silas and Lainie. The current game finished and the dealer, a tubby man in shirtsleeves, collected the cards to deal out the next game. “Do you have room for one more?” Lainie asked.
A tall, broad-shouldered fellow in a fine black suit, with a thin mustache and an unlit cigar clenched between his teeth, looked up from his cards. His pale gray eyes fixed on Lainie first, then moved to Silas. “We might,” he drawled around the cigar. “Depends on your stakes.”
Lainie tossed a drina coin onto the fancy silver tray that held the bets. “Here.”
The black-suited man looked at her again, then at Silas. “You’re joking, Mister. That ain’t stakes. Not for one of our games.”
“You’ll have to talk to her,” Silas said. “I’m not allowed to play for money.”
The man turned to Lainie again. “You?”
“You scared to lose to a girl?” Lainie asked.
“Well, Storts? Are you?” one of the other men asked. The house ladies tittered and whispered among themselves.
“Not at all,” Storts said, chuckling. “You just have a seat, little lady, and we’ll see who loses.”
The Rancher’s Daughter, Book 3 of Daughter of the Wildings
Coming soon!
http://www.kyrahalland.com/daughter-of-the-wildings.html
Watch for these other books in the Daughter of the Wildings series!
Book 1: Beneath the Canyons
Cowboys and gunslingers meet wizards in this high fantasy series inspired by the Old West. Silas Vendine is a mage and bounty hunter, on the hunt for renegade mages. He's also a freedom fighter, sworn to protect the non-magical people of the Wildings from ambitious mages both lawless and lawful. When Silas comes to the town of Bitterbush Springs, on the hunt for a mage who has brought the town to the brink of open warfare, he meets Lainie Banfrey, a young woman who is both drawn to and terrified of her own developing magical powers.
Though Lainie has been taught all her life to hate and fear wizards, she and Silas team up to stop the renegade who has brought her hometown to the brink of open warfare. The hunt takes them deep beneath forbidden lands held by the hostile A'ayimat people, where only Silas's skills and Lainie's untamed, untrained power can save them and the town from the rogue mage and the dark magic he has loosed into the world.
Now Available
Book 3: The Rancher’s Daughter
Once a hunter of renegade wizards, Silas Vendine now finds himself on the run. He and Lainie are living on what Lainie can win at cards and whatever odd jobs Silas can get from people who need his skills and don’t ask too many questions.
When Lainie’s luck with the cards turns sour, they are led to a meeting with one of the richest ranchers in the Wildings. Brin Coltor wants Silas and Lainie to undertake a dangerous mission into A’ayimat territory for him, and they can’t afford to turn him down. But Coltor is hiding a few secrets of his own, and what he doesn’t tell Silas and Lainie leads them right into the trouble they’ve been trying to avoid.
Coming soon!
Book 4: To the Gap
The secret of Lainie’s unprecedented magical power is out, and Silas and Lainie have to get out of Dodge (if Dodge City existed in their world). They don’t have enough money to escape to a place where they can be safe, so Silas signs them up to work the big yearly cattle drive. Every summer, thousands of cattle are driven to The Gap, the one pass through the towering mountains that separate Granadaia from the Wildings, to provide the settled lands of Granadaia with fresh meat for another year.
Rumor has it that someone is going to disrupt the cattle drive this year, and Silas quickly realizes that another mage is the source of the threat to the drive. The freedom and prosperity of the Wildings settlers depends on the success of the annual cattle drive, and Silas and Lainie’s lives depend on being able to hide from both the mage hunters who are after them and the mage-hating settlers while saving the drive.
Book 5: City of Mages
A nightmare come true, a betrayal deeper than Lainie and Silas could have imagined, that could mean the destruction of everything they love and believe in. Alone in a strange land, with no friends, no allies, no one they can trust, Silas and Lainie have to find a way to escape from their enemies and stop the evil that threatens the Wildings.
Book 6: For the Wildings
Silas and Lainie recover from their ordeal in Granadaia, while knowing that an evil is at work that threatens the freedom of the Wildings and that this peaceful interval is no more than a brief illusion. Then the unthinkable happens, the battle begins, and Lainie, the daughter of the Wildings, and Silas, the man she has claimed for herself and for the land, have to draw on all their power and strength – and on the life of the land itself – to protect their beloved Wildings and the people who make it their home.
More Tales of Fantasy, Heroism, and Romance
from Kyra Halland
Urdaisunia
Urdaisunia, once favored by the gods above all other lands, now lies defeated and in ruins. The gods, displeased by the Urdais' weakness, have turned their backs on the land and left it to die.
Rashali, a widowed Urdai peasant, has vowed to destroy the conquering Sazars and restore Urdaisunia to greatness.
Prince Eruz, heir to the Sazar throne, is driven by his conscience to walk a dangerous line between loyalty and treason to do what he believes is best for all the people of Urdaisunia.
When Rashali and Eruz meet by chance, the gods take notice, and a divine wager sends peasant and prince on intertwining paths of danger, intrigue, love, and war in their fight to save the land they both love - Urdaisunia.
Now Available
A Cure for Nel, and Other Stories
Three short fantasy stories about love, family, greed, ambition, and the desires of the human heart:
The Peach Tree: Lonely seamstress Sula will do anything to gain her greatest desire.
You Can’t Take It With You: Uncle Morgi, the richest magician in the city, has died, and his most valuable possession is missing.
A Cure for Nel: When Leya’s daughter falls ill, their only hope is the man who abandoned them years ago to pursue his dreams of magic.
Now Available
Chosen of Azara
Juzeva, a princess of the magical land of Savaru, sacrifices everything to try to stop a war and instead finds herself caught in a web of evil and deceit.
Sevry, the last king of the war-ravaged land of Savaru, is tasked by the magical Source Azara with finding the secret that disappeared with Juzeva, the secret that can bring Savaru back to life.
Lucie, a sheltered young noblewoman, is unaware of her true heritage and the power she has to restore a lost land, until the long-dead king of a mythical land steps into her life and sweeps her away to adventure, danger, and a love that will change her life and the lost land of Savaru forever.
Now Available
The Warrior and The Holy Man
The Path of Haveshi Yellowcrow: When ill fortune strikes Haveshi's clan, the remedy is devastating for the young wife and mother. Guided by the Yellowcrow, god of the forsaken, she sets out on a path to regain what she has lost.
The Path of Latan the Clerk: Latan, a lowly clerk in service to the magical Source Tiati, has discovered a historical document of great importance, and is summoned to present his findings to the high priest of the Empire. Accompanied by the warrior named Haveshi Yellowcrow, he embarks on the journey of a lifetime and finds unexpected danger and self-discovery.
Two short stories set in the world of Chosen of Azara.
Now Ava
ilable
The Lost Book of Anggird
Stodgy Professor Roric Rossony has been asked to find a way to stop the deterioration of the magica, the Vorunne Dominion’s powerful magical force. With the help of his free-spirited assistant, Perarre Tabrano, he begins the most important work of his life – and finds his orderly existence turned upside down by his unexpected romance with Perarre.
Driven by the need to find the truth about the magica, Roric goes too far in his research, delving into lost and forbidden books that have been hidden away for centuries. Then the most dangerous book of all falls into his hands, and magical disaster strikes.
Forced to flee from the Dominion authorities, Roric and Perarre embark on a journey to discover the secret of the magica’s origins and restore magic to its ancient form, a journey that only their growing magical powers and their love for each other will help them survive.
Now Available
Sarya’s Song
Sarya dyr-Rusac has risen from her destitute childhood to become a respected Arranger of musical magic rituals, until a wedding ritual she wrote results in tragedy. As unprecedented disasters follow, she returns to the musical service she left in disgrace, in search of answers. There, she confronts the mistakes she made in the past and resumes her complicated relationship with the gloriously talented singer Adan Muari.
Then a beautiful, nameless man in chains begins to appear in her dreams, begging her to sing him free. With time running out, Sarya must discover the truth: is he too dangerous and powerful to deal with, a threat to the man she loves and to their world, or does he have the power to end the catastrophes that threaten to tear the world apart?
Now Available
For complete catalog and availability,
please visit http://www.kyrahalland.com/books.html
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to my wonderful test readers, for helping to make this a better book: Steph (who gave me the perfect line for Silas to say to Fazar), Jill, Jeremy, Kellie, Elizabeth, and Amy.
Also thanks to Mominur Rahman, for bringing Silas and Lainie to life on the covers of this series.
And, most of all, many many thanks to my husband for his patience, love, and support.
About the Author
Beginning with the Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander and the Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Leguin, Kyra Halland has always loved fantasy. She has also always loved a good love story. In 1990, as a new stay-at-home mom with a young baby, she finally decided to combine those two loves – like chocolate and peanut butter! – by writing the kinds of romantic fantasy novels she wanted to read.
Complicated, honorable heroes; heroines who are strong, smart, and all woman; magic, romance, and adventure; and excursions into the dark corners of life and human nature mixed with a dash of offbeat humor – all of these make up Kyra Halland's worlds. She is excited to share those worlds with readers, who she hopes will enjoy her stories and characters as much as she does.
Kyra Halland lives in southern Arizona. She has a very patient husband, two less-patient cats, and two young adult sons. Besides writing, she enjoys scrapbooking and anime, and she wants to be a crazy cat lady when she grows up.
You can find out more about Kyra Halland’s books at
http://www.kyrahalland.com
