“I found Phineas.” He panted. “He’s set up camp at the base of a mountain far to the north.”
“Daeza,” I whispered. “How will you get Adina home if his guards block your path?”
“They can’t very well guard the entire mountain.” Lindsay scoffed. “There’s a way. We’ll just have to find it.” When Harper glanced her way, she shrugged. “So maybe I’m not rushing to return to the outlands after all. Adina will be more comfortable around another female, and I can keep her as safe as anyone else. I figure as long as I’m not in Askara, I won’t cause any trouble.”
“The commune won’t appreciate outsiders in their midst.” Dillon’s brow creased. “It will be a dangerous trip for Adina, and if she’s escorted by a halfling, it might prove disastrous for her.”
“If her mate wants her back, he’ll deal with it.” She scowled. “I may not be a pureblood, but I can do the job. If you think you’re better equipped to handle this mission than I am, you do it.”
I held my breath while he glowered at her. Things he might say tightened his expression, but when he finally spoke, he had settled on the answer I wanted to hear, and I exhaled with relief.
“My mate and I are leaving. We’re taking our child with us.” He shrugged. “It’s your neck if you want to go ahead instead of waiting for a prime to do the job. The legion does employ a few, you know.” Her expression said she hadn’t known. “Mason, draw Lindsay a map or something.”
“No.” Mason used a rag to mop his face. “She can’t go alone. Not with Adina expecting. I’ll go.” He didn’t look happy about it. “Parts of the pass are blockaded. I may have to fly Adina in.”
Dillon was about to argue when the first rays of dawn hit his eyes. Squinting, he fell silent.
“Time flies, I guess.” Emma surveyed their group. “The others will wonder what’s taking so long. If we don’t want Clayton to come through the gateway, we’d better send you all through.”
“She’s right.” Harper embraced Dillon. “Take care. I’ll see you soon.” He nodded to me and smiled at Brielle. “It was nice to meet you, Brielle. I don’t suppose I could ask you for a favor?”
She peered around my leg, nibbling on her bottom lip. “It depends.”
“Can you keep an eye out for my friend here?” He pointed at Dillon. “I think he’s nervous.”
“Dragons don’t get nervous.” But she sighed loudly and offered Dillon her hand. She was markedly less impressed with his human glamour.
Walking over to her, Dillon slid his hand in hers. “You’re a very brave girl.”
Her small shoulders tensed for a moment. “I’m not a girl, I’m a princess.”
“My mistake, Princess Brielle.” He chuckled. Turning to me, he asked, “Are you ready?”
“I am, Lord Dragon.” I tugged Brielle’s blindfold. “Are you ready to be led into his cave?”
She gave a regal nod and resituated her blindfold. “I’m ready.”
My gaze collided with Dillon’s over Brielle’s head, and I mouthed I love you. He stole a kiss and murmured the same against my lips as I savored how our future tasted on his tongue. For the first time, as I watched the mighty dragon march the brave princess through a glittering gateway and into another realm, I considered there might be a grain of truth to those fairytales after all.
Stepping from Askaran sand onto earthen grass, I swore, “We will live happily ever after.”
About the Author
Hailey is a wife turned mother turned writer, who loves her husband, her daughter and alone time with her computer. Whenever southern living strikes her as too ordinary, she can be found squinting at her monitor as she writes her next happily-ever-after or with her nose glued to her Kindle’s screen. Wings and/or cupcakes are usually involved…
She loves to hear from readers at [email protected].
You can also swing by www.haileyedwards.net for all her latest news.
Look for these titles by Hailey Edwards
Now Available:
Daughters of Askara
Everlong
Evermine
Araneae Nation
A Hint of Frost
Hope dangles by a silken thread.
A Hint of Frost
© 2012 Hailey Edwards
Araneae Nation, Book 1
When the head of the Araneidae clan is found poisoned in her nest, her eldest daughter, Lourdes, becomes their clan’s new maven. If her clan is to survive, she has but one choice: she must marry before her nest is seized. All she needs is a warrior fierce enough to protect her city and safeguard her clansmen. Such a male is Rhys the Cold.
Born the youngest son of an impoverished maven, the only things Rhys has to his name are his sword and his mercenary reputation. His clan is starving, but their fondness for the flesh of fellow Araneaeans makes them unwelcome dinner guests. Torn between loyalty to his clan and fascination with his future bride, Rhys’s first taste of Lourdes threatens to melt the cold encasing his heart.
Amid the chaos of battle, Lourdes’s sister disappears and is feared captured. Lourdes and Rhys pursue their enemies into the southlands, where they discover an odd plague ravaging southern clans as it travels north, to Erania. Determined to survive, Lourdes will discover whether she’s worth her silk or if she’s spun the thread by which her clan will hang.
Warning: This book contains one mercenary hero with a biting fetish, one determined heroine who gets nibbled, and an answer to the age-old question, “What does dragon taste like?” Matricide and sibling rivalry are available upon request. The house special is revenge, best served cold.
Enjoy the following excerpt for A Hint of Frost:
“Is that what I am? Do you look at me and see a flesh-eater whose hungers rule him?”
I recoiled from his touch and his temper. “I don’t know what I see, Rhys. You confuse me. You’re not what I expected. You’re more, better, and it makes me want more and better from you.” I gained a pitiful bit of distance. “Your brother taunts us both with a secret you’re unwilling to share, yet you hope my opinion remains unaltered? How can it? It’s impossible.”
“Lourdes…” His voice broke.
“No, you asked. You keep asking. Let me have my say.” My feet found strength on the riverbed, and I stood tall. “I don’t understand you, but I’m fonder of you than is wise. I can’t abide not knowing where we stand. If nothing else, tell me that. Tell me who Mana is to you.”
His harsh lips curved into a beatific smile I had no defense against. “You’re jealous.”
Had he heard nothing I’d said? Of course I was. “She’s something to you. What is she?”
Instead of answering, he waded to where I stood. Trembling with anger, I forced my knees steady as he palmed the base of my neck and dragged me toe to toe with him. Rhys towered over me, his smile shining like the sun’s rays upon my face, and my treacherous heart flip-flopped.
“You are jealous.” Wonderment filled his voice. “You care for me.”
“I’ve said as much.” Either he wasn’t listening, or what I said wasn’t sinking through his thick skull. I’d given him words. I wanted some in return. “I question your affection, not mine.”
His eyebrows slanted as a look of utter confusion crossed his features. Growling, I hooked my leg around the bend of his knees and shoved against his chest. I lost hair in his fall, but the shock on his face was worth the pain. I stood there, pleased with myself one second and then gasping the next as he dragged me under. Beneath the cool water, his mouth found its way to mine and his lips moved across them. I’m yours. I understood him as clear as if he’d spoken in my ear.
Peace suffused my limbs and tingled in the smile I could no longer hide. He was mine.
Dumbstruck by his trick, I think I would have floated blissful and unaware as I drowned beneath the pleasure of his vow. He was the one with sense enough to realize we’d both lost our air and dragged us choking to the surface. Spluttered laughter poured from me as he patte
d my back.
“Maven Lourdes?” The sharp, feminine gasp killed my hysteria. “Are you well?” Mana stood on the shore with stacked clothes balanced on one arm and supplies hung from the other.
Rhys pressed down on my shoulders until water rushed around my throat. “She is well.” He gave her a small smile, a fraction of the one he’d given me, and yet I found myself envious.
“Oh.” Her gaze averted. “Then I will leave your supplies by the water’s edge.”
Until he frowned down at me, I hadn’t realized my nails bit into his arm. I’d seen ursus in heat respond better to encroaching females than I did. He was mine. He’d said so.
“He’s mine.” Gods above, had I spoken aloud? Judging by Mana’s broad grin and Rhys’s patient sigh, I had.
“Yes, Maven.” Mana laughed. “He is yours. He told me as much himself.”
“I’m glad I amuse you.” I was acting out, yet I blamed her for my foul temper. Far easier for me to point the finger than accept some animal part of me wanted Rhys bathed in my scent so other females knew where he belonged—at my side—always. Until our life threads joined, such marking was ill-advised, but the need roared through me. Desire was a pale word for what I felt.
“I meant no disrespect.” Her face drained of amusement. “I apologize for my rudeness.”
I rubbed a finger alongside my nose. “You’ve done nothing wrong. I’m sorry, Mana, I am. Whatever your relationship is—was—to Rhys, doesn’t concern me. It’s between you two.”
Mana dropped her supplies as her eyes rounded with understanding.
Rhys looked to her. “Thank you,” he said, shifting his attention from her on to me, “cousin.”
Embarrassment was a flash fire that ignited in my cheeks and constricted my throat. She was his cousin? Fine impression I had made on his family. What Mana must think of me, all but foaming at the mouth. After Pascale’s tantrum, I was amazed Rhys had dared risk the introduction.
“You are most welcome. I will fetch you when dinner is ready.” She hesitated. “I gave your brother the room beside Old Father. I assumed you would want privacy at your home.”
The look he turned on me melted my bones. “We do, and, Mana? If we don’t answer…”
More red blossomed in her cheeks. “I’ll leave a tray outside your door.”
“Thank you, Mana.” I broke Rhys’s gaze. “You’ve been more gracious than I deserve.”
“Hearts are fickle things, Maven. They drive us to act without thought at times.” Her smile was kind and conveyed perfect understanding. “That yours is a love match is a blessing only the two gods could have bestowed.”
My mouth ran dry and my lips puckered closed. Thank the gods for that mercy. I didn’t love Rhys. I didn’t know him well enough. I glanced back at him and my chest tightened. Did I?
His hand traveled my shoulder until he stroked the side of my throat, and all of my doubts scattered as if his thumb had flicked them away. “I judged you unfairly.” I’d let my insecurities speak for me. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” He excused me without hesitation. “Vaughn sews his seeds of doubt well.”
“I let him have his fun at my expense.” I should have known better. “If I’d asked you sooner, we could have avoided this.”
Rhys didn’t speak. He didn’t have to. He radiated smug male satisfaction.
“What?” He managed the word without inflection as he drew me flush against him.
I covered his hand with mine. “I think you’re enjoying yourself too much, that’s what.”
“My beautiful, jealous female is naked in my arms.” He smiled. “What’s not to enjoy?”
I sank lower in the water. “You’re unconcerned with nudity, aren’t you?”
“I am what the gods made me, as are you. There is no shame in what they created.”
His faith bolstered mine. “Your offer stands?” Perhaps it bolstered mine too far.
His heavy brow creased. I bit my lip and glanced between his face and, well, the rest of him. Understanding dawned in the flare of his nostrils. He nodded, and I looked my fill.
The current swirled about him, curving around his waist and drawing my eye to the hard board of his abdomen. Scars crisscrossed roped muscle, pale against his tan skin. My gaze skipped like a stone across a pond, unsure which part of him to admire first. A dark trail led from his navel to the waterline, and my fingers itched to trace its path. His legs were the first bare thing I’d seen of him, and even they fascinated me. He said look upon him. I had. Now how did I stop?
My fingers curled. “Can I touch you?”
“I think that would be unwise.” His gaze cast upon the shore.
“Oh.” My hand dropped. I hadn’t realized I’d lifted it.
“Water is sacred to the Salticidae.” He touched my cheek. “I have a healthy respect for Old Father and his walking stick. Otherwise, I would have left you under Mana’s supervision.”
Better for us both that he hadn’t. “No touching then.”
“Not while your skin is bare and your eyes are willing.” His grin turned wry. “I placed more faith in myself than was wise. Resisting you clothed is difficult, while naked it’s nigh impossible.” His fingers sank in my hair. “I thought coming to the water would be safer for us.”
“You mean with your honor to hold you accountable and my fear to keep me honest?”
He chuckled. “Something like that.”
I touched his arm. “I respect their beliefs, but I know myself and own my desire.”
He cleared his throat. “I believe I said I owned my actions.”
With a careless shrug that cost me the dregs of my modesty, I stood on knees weak enough to be swayed by the current. Sacred waters kept my virtue untouched, but it also kept Rhys untouched. Digging my toes into the sandy bottom, I owned my desire. My innocence was his. He would be my husband. I knew him well enough to understand he would never let me go.
“Come, partisan.” I curled my fingers. “Help me bathe, then take me to your home.”
I heard him swallow. “As my maven wishes.”
War tore them apart. Betrayal could bring them together…
Brightarrow Burning
© 2011 Isabo Kelly
Layla Brightarrow’s world fell apart the day the Sorcerers invaded her city, intent on using her fellow humans’ pain to augment their spells. Worse, the neighboring elven kingdom declared neutrality, effectively abandoning her people to struggle for survival.
Then some of the elves break neutrality to trade with the Sorcerers, and Layla is ordered to assassinate Althir, brother of the elf lord she has secretly loved all her life.
When Ulric of Glengowyn uncovers his brother’s plot—and that Layla is one of the assassins sent to stop him—his first instinct is to protect her from all possible harm. He’ll even use seduction, if necessary, to get her into a position to talk some sense into her.
Years of pent-up desire is too much for Layla to resist…and one touch unleashes an unquenchable fire that changes everything. Leaving Layla caught between duty and a love that could be her destruction. Or her salvation.
Warning: This book contains evil sorcerers, a scarred heroine, a sexy elf hero, naughty language, and an intoxicating and addicting pheromone that leads to wildly hot sex. Plus traitors, deadly magic, bespelled baddies, and a really, really rotten brother.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Brightarrow Burning:
She sucked in a deep breath as she listened. The air was sharp and humid in her mouth, tasting faintly of ash and mist. “So most of the elves would still leave us humans to die.”
He was silent for long enough she knew she’d hit a soft spot.
“I’m not one of them, Layla,” he murmured. “I believe we should be involved.”
“But on which side?”
His hands clamped down on her shoulders and she was whipped around so fast her feet twisted beneath her, costing her balance. He brought her up flush against his b
ody before she could regain her footing.
“How can you ask me that? I’m betraying my own brother to protect you.”
The feel of his hard muscles pressed against the length of her body made her stomach tighten. Blood pumped faster through her veins. Swallowing to rewet her throat, she opened her mouth to speak, closed it, swallowed again, then forced a few words out. “You expect me to trust you?”
“Yes,” he hissed.
“Yet you still talk to Althir.”
He brought his face closer, his breath brushing hot against her mouth. Her lips parted without her permission and need welled up to flow through her. His scent was impossible to ignore now. Something about it called to her, and she found it harder to resist the longer they stood this close.
“I talk to my brother to keep you safe.”
“And that’s the part that makes no sense,” she said, her voice low and harsh from a lust she could barely control. “Why would you work so hard to protect me?”
“Because I care about you, damn it.”
Her head spun as tension tightened in her gut. She blinked to force back the dizziness. “But only after I nearly killed Althir,” she pointed out, as much a reminder to herself as to him. “Before that, you weren’t here keeping me safe.”
“I was forbidden by my king and queen.”
She frowned, trying to see the lies around the haze of want fuzzing her brain.
His voice softened. “I tried to leave Glengowyn. To help you. King Varim forbade it. Until the other elves defected, I was stuck by their ruling.”
His grip relaxed and he cupped her face in his palms. A shiver raced along her arms and up the back of her neck. Step back, she thought. Get away while you can. Instead, she dipped a breath closer. She barely felt in control of her body. So easy to just let go, to allow him to seduce her, to give in to what she’d wanted for more years than she could bear to think about.
“Layla.” His voice dropped an octave. “They had to physically keep me away.”
Eversworn: Daughters of Askara, Book 3 Page 24
