Hello! To celebrate my fourth anniversary as a published author, I’m sharing an excerpt from my debut Keir (Book One of Redemption) – a time travel romance novel. This snippet was a favourite chosen by one of my readers. The hero and heroine are meeting for the first time, and it’s not going very well…
“Another step,” he growled, “and I will kill you.”
The girl stopped and squinted into the shadows. After a moment, she raised the light over her head. “That isn’t very friendly.” Her tone was calm and even, but the way she held herself told him she stood braced for any sudden movement, the lamp a weapon should she need one.
“I am not friendly. I am dangerous.”
Even as he made the threat, he knew his chances of proving it were remote. In his fragile condition, she had a fair chance of fending him off, or possibly even killing him, and it seemed she knew it. Perhaps his voice had given away his pain and exhaustion. Perhaps she found his seated position less than intimidating, but in truth he could not bring himself to stand. Her posture relaxed a fraction, and she took another step forward, her light invading his niche.
Wincing, he turned his cloth-covered face away.
“You don’t look very dangerous.” She held her torch like a sword as she drew closer. “You look sick.”
He kept his arm raised as if to ward her off, though he shook with the effort of it.
“My name’s Tarquin Secker,” she offered. “But my friends call me Quin. Who are you?”
The words escaped him before he could call them back. “I am Keir.”
As if she had somehow mistaken their exchange of names for permission, she crouched before him and held up her free hand, palm outward.
Keir shied back as she reached out to him. Fear and anger lent him a temporary burst of energy, and he shoved her backward. “Do not touch me!”
The blow was not as heavy as he could have normally managed, but Quin landed on her back with enough force to knock the breath from her with a pained grunt, though she kept her grip on the light-stick. She rose and approached him a second time, slowly and with evident caution, but Keir’s strength had failed him at last, and he sagged against the nearby wall.
“Are you wounded?” She knelt down and reached for him again. He shrank from her touch, and she stopped just shy of his arm. “I don’t want to hurt you, Keir. I might be able to help.”
He said nothing, could not bring himself to unbend, and after a moment, she sat back on her haunches with a sigh. “All right, so you don’t want my help. Why are you in here anyway?”
“What does that matter?”
Quin shrugged. “I’m curious, and there’s not much else to do.” She tilted her head. “Did you hurt someone? Kill someone, maybe?”
Despite how mildly she had phrased the question, the inference stung. “No. They caught me stealing food.” The tension left her face.
“Just a thief, then.”
The accusation, however true, stirred his resentment. “What choice is there when you are starving and have no money?”
“Fair enough, but you did just threaten to kill me, so I wondered…” Quin fiddled with the light-wand in her hand. When she spoke again, her tone seemed musing, as if she spoke more to herself. “And yet you didn’t. So I’m guessing you either can’t or wouldn’t.”
Only a fool would make that assumption. Keir held his tongue, tired of the discussion. What did it matter now?
“Look, I shouldn’t be here. I just want to get out. Maybe that’s an idea I can interest you in?”
For a long moment, Keir could think of nothing to say. Escape was inconceivable. Then he muttered, “There is no way out.”
“I can always find a way.”
***
Blurb:
A demon waiting to die…
An outcast reviled for his discolored skin and rumors of black magic, Keirlan de Corizi sees no hope for redemption. Imprisoned beneath the palace that was once his home, the legendary ‘Blue Demon of Adalucian’ waits for death to finally free him of his curse. But salvation comes in an unexpected guise.
A woman determined to save him.
Able to cross space and time with a wave of her hand, Tarquin Secker has spent eternity on a hopeless quest. Drawn by a compulsion she can’t explain, she risks her apparent immortality to save Keir, and offers him sanctuary on her home-world, Lyagnius. But Quin has secrets of her own.
When Keir mistakenly unleashes the dormant alien powers within him and earns exile from Lyagnius, Quin chooses to stand by him. Can he master his newfound abilities in time to save Quin from the darkness that seeks to possess her?
Book One of the Redemption series and part of the Travellers Universe.
Book One and Two of Redemption are currently on sale for just 99 cents/pence/Euros each until the end of May.
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Keir (Book #1):
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