by Martha Carr
Slowly, Cheyenne moved forward until she stood close enough to touch L’zar’s hand without having to straighten her arm. But she didn’t.
He nodded at her shoulder again. “Let me see.”
Her eyes narrowed as she studied his face, and she didn’t look away from him as she tugged the neck of her black shirt down over her shoulder. Then she peeled off the medical tape and one side of the folded gauze bandage that had been the best she could do and let it dangle down her arm from the last few pieces of tape.
L’zar tsked, eyes narrowed in disapproval. “These idiots don’t know the first thing about who they’re dealing with on a day-to-day basis, and I’m not just talking about me. Come on. Just a little closer.”
She took one more step, standing just inches away from the bars. There was no doubt now that the fresh-baked-bread smell came from L’zar, mixed with something like lemongrass. The warmth of his long, graceful hand touched her shoulder before his fingers did, and it was just the lightest touch. Cheyenne hardly felt the contact, but she most definitely felt what happened next.
A dull gold glow slowly came to life beneath L’zar’s fingers and sent an icy shock through Cheyenne’s shoulder and down into her fingertips. She sucked in a breath through her teeth but didn’t move.
Another chuckle escaped him as he looked up at her, his next smile just big enough to show a hint of those dazzling white teeth. “It gets better.”
Then he returned his attention to her shoulder, and the chill of his spell bloomed into a gentle warmth that was nothing like the pain she’d dealt with for days or the raging, sparking heat of her drow magic. A few seconds later, her father removed his hand and wrapped it around one of the bars again.
“That should feel a little better.”
The halfling finally looked away from him to glance down at her shoulder. Where there had once been two deep holes burned into her skin by Q’orr’s black-magic sludge, now there were two circular smudges of dried blood.
She flipped the gauze bandage back up and slipped her shirt over that. “Thanks.”
L’zar’s lips twitched in and out of another smile. “Any time.”
Without knowing what else to say or how to start the conversation she’d spent hours imagining in endless variations, Cheyenne just stood there and studied her father’s face. Apparently, L’zar didn’t have the same problem getting the ball rolling.
“Okay.” He looked away from her and nodded at the metal chair behind her. “Sit down, and let’s have a little chat. If you have the time.”
He’d healed her shoulder and hadn’t said a word about anything else. That didn’t mean Cheyenne could let herself trust the drow who’d left her and her mom with nothing but the memory of one night and a copper puzzle box covered in symbols she couldn’t read. But she did have time, as much time as the men running Chateau D’rahl saw fit to give her. She stared into those golden eyes a little longer, then stepped back and grabbed the metal chair. She set it down about two feet from the bars and lowered herself into the cold seat.
So far, the drow, who was studying her with curiosity and approval and something more like feral hunger, didn’t scare her one bit. The only thing that scared her was the thought that she might not get everything she wanted out of him in one visit. But she wouldn’t know until their time was up.
Cheyenne folded her arms and gave her father a small, secretive smile that wasn’t entirely friendly. “Yeah. Let’s chat.”
The End
Cheyenne Summerlin’s just trying to play the game through grad school, and being Goth is a pretty good disguise for a Drow halfling who knows nothing about the magical world. Now she’s caught up in a shady deal with the FRoE, kicking criminal ass left and right, and trying to get a handle on her Drow-berserker powers.
On top of that, the Drow L’zar is the only person who can tell her who she is. And he’s locked up at Chateau D’rahl.
Join Cheyenne as she blasts her way through this side of the portal in Drow Nevermore!
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Dark Is Her Nature
For Hire: Teachers for special school in Virginia countryside.
Must be able to handle teenagers with special abilities.
Cannot be afraid to discipline werewolves, wizards, elves and other assorted hormonal teens.
Apply at the School of Necessary Magic.
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON RETAILERS AND IN KINDLE UNLIMITED!
The Magic Compass
If smart phones and GPS rule the world - why am I hunting a magic compass to save the planet?
Austin Detective Maggie Parker has seen some weird things in her day, but finding a surly gnome rooting through her garage beats all.
Her world is about to be turned upside down in a frantic search for 4 Elementals.
Each one has an artifact that can keep the Earth humming along, but they need her to unite them first.
Unless the forces against her get there first.
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON AND IN KINDLE UNLIMITED!
Author Notes - Martha Carr
February 21, 2020
This is the year of the hobbies. First, let me define what makes a hobby. It’s anything that doesn’t earn money, or is of service, or is necessary – like exercise. A hobby’s only purpose is fun. I have mentored a lot of young women over the years and this is one of the first things we tackle. To a person, everyone has been bright, ambitious, talented, caring, and didn’t have a single hobby. I fall in and out of that category myself. Life gets busy, work takes off, children or friends need help and boom – no hobbies.
It’s tough to even get the brain to think of one. Mostly because we’re trying to figure out what we’d like ahead of even trying. That’s called contempt ahead of information. Ultimately, what’s worked best for me is to ask for a list of five ideas numbered according to willingness to try. That’s it. And I set a deadline for when it has to be turned in. Then we chat about each one.
Next step – go gather information on each idea. Where can a person learn more about it? How much will it cost to do it? Do I need any special skills or equipment? Do we know anyone who’s already into this? The more information the better. It solves two things. It usually helps decide which one to start first, if at all, and it lowers resistance because now, it’s not so foreign. We know a lot more about it. The enthusiasm can build.
Then, you go sign up. The action part that takes a little bit of courage. I set a deadline for this one too. You can hate it and you can quit, but you have to at least try. Willingness will get you really, really far in this life and lack of it can shut a life down.
What has been road tested over and over again is that once a person starts trying different fun stuff, they get hooked. Stress levels drop, obsessing over a job or a relationship drops, loneliness drops. There’s something about fun for fun’s sake that soothes the soul.
Last year, I noticed I had fallen off the hobby bandwagon. I had been dabbling in some glass work and drawing cartoons and running but it all stopped somewhere along the way. My stress level was high, my work hours were high. Not good. This year, work is more in alignment and I’ve taken up embroidery so far and I’m back into painting and looking at doing a mural down the lower part of my hallway. I’m also dabbling in baking. Thank goodness there’s that amenity center near me where I can drop off leftovers so I don’t eat them. Running 5ks is another one because of the way I see them. More socializing than exercise. You run for about a half hour with friends and then you go to brunch. Perfect. The other one I want to do is start a neighborhood D&D game. Next on the list.
Making time for something that only benefits me is a great way to teach myself that I matter and that everything holds together
even if I’m not there, but that I’m still welcomed back when I show up again. All necessary reminders. It’s like we reclaim that kid part of ourselves every time we do it. What’s your latest hobbies? More adventures to follow.
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
February 27, 2020
THANK YOU for reading our story! We have a few of these planned, but we don’t know if we should continue writing and publishing without your input. Options include leaving a review, reaching out on Facebook to let us know, and smoke signals.
Frankly, smoke signals might get misconstrued as low hanging clouds, so you might want to nix that idea.
If this is the first book by me you have read, know that there are dozens of rabbit holes (series) you can go down after you finish this series!
Goth Drow the character was an effort to merge a slightly darker protagonist (well, as dark as we can get) while making her something we don’t see too often in a story.
Who would think to create a Goth-looking human as a way to hide a Drow lineage?
(If you know of some stories which have already done this, please don’t tell me. Allow me to enjoy my blissful state of ignorance.)
Inside the team working on this series we named the project “the Goth Draw” story. Which, of course, got shortened to Goth Drow.
By the time we needed to come up with a series name, we were all so accustomed to that name we (and by “we,” I mean I) couldn’t think of anything I liked more than Goth Drow. The rest of the team agreed, and there you go.
The story of how Goth Drow became the series name is revealed.
The title naming credit goes to Jake Caleb, the artist for the cover. He will often put in placeholder titles to see how book covers will look with the typography. Then, he gives the cover preview to Martha, who (almost every time) loves his title and runs with it.
I think she is getting a little too happy with just getting Jake to come up with titles, but let’s not mention that to her. The fact they ARE good has nothing to do with anything. At least, not with me giving Martha grief about title laziness. I feel certain she will explain how it is an efficient use of resource talent.
That’s how I would argue the case, anyway. Since I don’t think she will read these Author Notes, (please see comment above about not telling her) I should be good.
Diary Sunday Feb 23rd to Sat Feb 29th. (Mostly the same for all books coming out during this week.)
Well, this is a little early (I’m not quite into the week yet), but I can admit I’m going to be out of the office for a couple of days.
Where are you going, you ask? Why, to the White Label World Expo. I know, it clearly gives you goosebumps up and down your arms just thinking about it, right?
No?
Well, color me surprised. (In case you are super-curious, here is the link: https://www.whitelabelexpo.com)
I’ve now reviewed the list of those exhibiting, and I’m not sure if I’ll last beyond a couple of hours. I’m pretty sure this should be renamed the CBD Conference for those not yet involved.
I did notice there is a class on leveraging Amazon’s algorithm for growth. That looks interesting.
On to other topics!
We have plenty of cool books coming out next week, including Scions of Magic Book 05, Hunter Cadet Book 03 (this series has been extended to 06!) We have a brand-new series WAR MAGE Book 01 (3 in 1) on Wednesday. We finish the week with Goth Drow (3 in 1) on Friday and Steel Dragon Book 03 (3 in 1) on Saturday.
All in, that is about eleven (11) books’ worth of reading. So, I hope you don’t treasure your sleep!
#Sleep Is Overrated.
#Read all Night, Sleep all day.
#Don’t Be A Quitter – Finish the book!
#Your boss will NOT understand, I guarantee it.
I will be editing OpusX Book 06 this week, so if you are in Vegas, you might find me at the Aria Five-50 bar typing into the night, trying to pound their iced tea (I swear that stuff has 3x the caffeine of any other tea) and finish just one more chapter or three of editing.
Today, I visited the Aria barber (in the Spa) for the first time. The barber (a Russian lady, Luba(?)) talked me into a true barber shave.
Dammit, that hurt!
I only ever do a dry electric shave, and my beard was NOT pleased with the experience. It wasn’t too bad (yes, it was.), until the last towel.
Those who have done this are probably chuckling.
You see, the first towel in a barber shave is hot, or at least nice and warm to open the pores. She flicked the first towel back and forth a few times to cool it, then settled it on my chin area (this was going well), then wrapped it all the way around my face leaving an opening for my nose.
HOLY D@#%R that was a bit warm!
But really nice after the shock. The towel was infused with something that smelled spa-ish and very outdoorsy.
The actual shave was a bit harsh (ripping hairs out at the roots it felt like) at times, but I expected that to happen.
It was the last towel, the one to close the pores, that made me bounce out of the chair.
It wasn’t just “a little cold.” No, it felt like she laid ice water in a nice circle on top of my face. As if I were in the sea off of Iceland, with only my nose sticking out above the frigid water.
In short, it sucked.
I’ll do it again, but probably once a quarter. There is very little that can provide such a close shave as a razor blade. Besides, the thought of only one small jerk of the hand to end your life gets the blood flowing, #AmIRight?
Yeah, even I could have done without that last thought. See you next book!
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael
** I went to the White Label event yesterday. Stayed four hours, took one class on Amazon ads, and met a really interesting guy who does tattoos (very talented.) Judith (my wife) and I had lunch with him and his wife, and I’ll see if we can help them publish their books. Who knows, you might see future art from him with LMBPN, and we can blame the Expo .
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Other Books By Martha Carr
Series in the Oriceran Universe:
THE LEIRA CHRONICLES
I FEAR NO EVIL
REWRITING JUSTICE
SCHOOL OF NECESSARY MAGIC
SCHOOL OF NECESSARY MAGIC: RAINE CAMPBELL
ALISON BROWNSTONE
THE DANIEL CODEX SERIES
FEDERAL AGENTS OF MAGIC
SCIONS OF MAGIC
THE UNBELIEVABLE MR. BROWNSTONE
THE KACY CHRONICLES
MIDWEST MAGIC CHRONICLES
SOUL STONE MAGE
THE FAIRHAVEN CHRONICLES
The Terranavis Universe
THE WITCHES OF PRESSLER STREET
THE ADVENTURES OF FINNEGAN DRAGONBENDER
THE ADVENTURES OF MAGGIE PARKER
Other series:
THE LAST VAMPIRE
THE WITCH NEXT DOOR
OTHER BOOKS BY JUDITH BERENS
OTHER BOOKS BY MARTHA CARR
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Books By Michael Anderle
For a complete list of books by Michael Anderle, please visit:
www.lmbpn.com/ma-books/
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