I moved forward to this stunning woman who’d somehow become mine. She wore her crown and a regal smile, though a hint of uncertainty ghosted in her gray eyes.
“No sword?” I asked.
She smiled a little. “I thought I owed you that. I can come to you without weapons and trust that I’ll always be safe. Tonight I’m a woman first. With you, always the woman first.”
Always she knew how to outmaneuver me, taking my breath away with a few words. “I haven’t seen this gown before,” I commented.
“No, you haven’t, because I hid it away,” she replied, almost shyly. “Just in case.”
“You’ve always been an excellent strategist,” I conceded.
“Do you like it?” She asked, hesitant with the question.
“You are more beautiful in this moment than I have ever seen you,” I told her gravely. “Ursula, my Essla, will you marry me and be my wife?”
The uncertainty fled, and she smiled in truth, all woman and not the queen. “Yes. Yes, I will, if you’re sure?”
“I’m sure,” I told her and offered her my arm.
She didn’t take it right away. “I know I pushed you into this.”
I laughed, took her hand and placed it firmly on my forearm. “Oh, my little hawk, you should know by now that you can’t push me into doing anything I don’t want to do.”
With a wry smile, she huffed out a laugh. “I do know that.” She narrowed her eyes. “No wedding bracelets, though, Dasnarian.”
“No one could chain you, my Hawk.”
Her answering smile faded as she studied me. “Why do you look so strange? Something has upset you.”
She saw through me so well. “Kaedrin knows where my sister is. Her name is Ivariel now.”
Ursula’s eyes widened in shock. “I sense Danu’s hand in this,” she murmured.
“I believe that may be so.”
“We’ll look for her,” Ursula said. “Whatever you need.”
“Thank you, love.” I turned her to face Danu’s altar and we walked toward it, side by side, partners in this, as in all things.
Kneeling before Danu, we bowed our heads to Her clear-eyed justice and wisdom, listening as Her priestess bound us together in law and spirit as we’d long been in our hearts.
Though we had the shortest of nights to celebrate together, I fully intended to savor every sweet moment of it.
Titles by Jeffe Kennedy
OTHER FANTASY ROMANCES
A COVENANT OF THORNS
Rogue’s Pawn
Rogue’s Possession
Rogue’s Paradise
THE TWELVE KINGDOMS
Negotiation
The Mark of the Tala
The Tears of the Rose
The Talon of the Hawk
Heart’s Blood
For Crown and Kingdom
THE UNCHARTED REALMS
The Pages of the Mind
The Edge of the Blade
The Snows of Windroven
The Shift of the Tide
The Arrows of the Heart
The Dragons of Summer
THE CHRONICLES OF DASNARIA
Prisoner of the Crown
Exile of the Seas
Warrior of the World
SORCEROUS MOONS
Lonen’s War
Oria’s Gambit
The Tides of Bára
The Forests of Dru
Oria’s Enchantment
Lonen’s Reign
THE FORGOTTEN EMPIRES
The Orchid Throne
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCES
Shooting Star
MISSED CONNECTIONS
Last Dance
With a Prince
Since Last Christmas
CONTEMPORARY EROTIC ROMANCES
Exact Warm Unholy
The Devil’s Doorbell
FACETS OF PASSION
Sapphire
Platinum
Ruby
Five Golden Rings
FALLING UNDER
Going Under
Under His Touch
Under Contract
EROTIC PARANORMAL
MASTER OF THE OPERA E-SERIAL
Master of the Opera, Act 1: Passionate Overture
Master of the Opera, Act 2: Ghost Aria
Master of the Opera, Act 3: Phantom Serenade
Master of the Opera, Act 4: Dark Interlude
Master of the Opera, Act 5: A Haunting Duet
Master of the Opera, Act 6: Crescendo
Master of the Opera
BLOOD CURRENCY
Blood Currency
BDSM FAIRYTALE ROMANCE
Petals and Thorns
OTHER WORKS
Birdwoman
Hopeful Monsters
Teeth, Long and Sharp
Thank you for reading!
About Jeffe Kennedy
Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include novels, non-fiction, poetry, and short fiction. She has been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) as a Director at Large.
Her award-winning fantasy romance trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms hit the shelves starting in May 2014. Book 1, The Mark of the Tala, received a starred Library Journal review and was nominated for the RT Book of the Year while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose received a Top Pick Gold and was nominated for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2014. The third book, The Talon of the Hawk, won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2015. Two more books followed in this world, beginning the spin-off series The Uncharted Realms. Book one in that series, The Pages of the Mind, has also been nominated for the RT Reviewer’s Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2016 and won RWA’s 2017 RITA® Award. The second book, The Edge of the Blade, released December 27, 2016, and is a PRISM finalist, along with The Pages of the Mind. The next in the series, The Shift of the Tide, came out in August, 2017. A high fantasy trilogy, The Chronicles of Dasnaria, taking place in The Twelve Kingdoms world began releasing from Rebel Base books in 2018.
She also introduced a new fantasy romance series, Sorcerous Moons, which includes Lonen’s War, Oria’s Gambit, The Tides of Bàra, and The Forests of Dru. She’s begun releasing a new contemporary erotic romance series, Missed Connections, which started with Last Dance and continues in With a Prince and Since Last Christmas.
In 2019, St. Martins Press will release the first book, The Orchid Throne, in a new fantasy romance series, The Forgotten Empires.
Her other works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion; an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera; and the erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under, which includes Going Under, Under His Touch and Under Contract.
She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.
Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com, every Sunday at the popular SFF Seven blog, on Facebook, on Goodreads and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is represented by Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.
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facebook.com/Author.Jeffe.Kennedy
twitter.com/jeffekennedy
goodreads.com/author/show/1014374.Jeffe_Kennedy
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