Description:

What's a mediator between the living and the dead to do when his clients are dragons with attitude, and a woman's life hangs in the balance? A fateful meeting at a tournament lures Lady Bronwyn Van Buren into a trap, setting off an ancient dragon spell. Now held hostage at the mysterious, abandoned keep of Caer Weilen, her brother Michael is sent to negotiate terms for her release with the dangerous dragon matriarch of the Montesquieu family, Selena.

Her terms are harsh indeed, for she sends him off to persuade a sinister ghost to return a valuable family ring. And that will be no easy task, for the ring is filled with dragon magic that the ghost uses to destroy all who dare approach her. But even if he does manage to get it, there's no guarantee that he'll be able to coax the dragon-blooded heir of Caer Weilen to set foot in his ancestral home again, much less agree to use the power of the ring to set Bronwyn free...

Excerpt:

The darkness was broken by a thin stab of light along the rims of Selena’s eyelids, which were sealed shut like ancient oysters guarding precious pearls. Her skin was twitching; erratic spasms began to vibrate along the outline of her body, slowly peeling her form away from the black granite casing that surrounded her. Warm fingers of consciousness massaged her mind.

I wonder how long it has been since I last woke? What is needed of me now?

She began to stretch her hands, easing the numbness from her palms, tensing and relaxing her fingers to restore their pliability. She struggled to pull herself away from her oneness with the nourishing bedrock, pawing it with her hands and pushing her torso forward through its mass to rotate herself to a sitting position.

The longer it is between each summons, the harder it is to move, she mused, briefly wondering if this was what death would be like for her in the end—fleeting moments of self-awareness through the eons, until she finally melded with the earth forever and became part of its consciousness.

But I am not dead yet, she reminded herself as she split the last part of her form away from the bedrock. She willed her body to move through the solidness, kicking her legs backward forcefully until she was standing.

“Gorifyny,” she whispered, breathing sound into the silence to command a staircase to form before her. She began climbing through the depths of Caer Weilen’s foundation, the bedrock liquefying before her as she ascended the stairway, solidifying beneath her after she passed through.

Each step she took seemed to come more easily, until at last she was swimming gracefully through the rock, pausing for just a moment as she entered the bottom layer of ashlar blocks on top of the bedrock foundation of Caer Weilen. The smooth, hard granite required more exertion to penetrate, and her skill in using her elemental powers was a little clumsy from lack of use during her long slumber.

The mortared crevices gave way to her passing with far less resistance than the ashlar, so she glided up through the castle walls following their perpendicular route. Weaving around the giant blocks of rock, she continued upward until she reached a private chamber high within Caer Weilen’s walls, cut off to all but those of the Tarren. She pushed against the floor’s surface crust and emerged at last to take her first breath of fresh air in a long, long time.

Customer Reviews: