She brought her head up at Neszmbe’s titter of alarm bouncing off the
moat, while an ungainly shape limped in their direction. It stopped, then in a
burst of sudden speed glided forward, appearing to be blown by a strong wind
like a boat upon the water. The cold of the serpent’s body passed through the
cloth of her skirt, somehow reassuring.
“An auspicious day and night for your visit.” Ir-A sounded close, as if
she had spoken directly into Mehadeh’s ear, yet the magus stood at the spiked
wrought iron gate just after the bridge, some distance away. The gate opened,
creaking like Ir-A’s voice. Of course, the magus was referring to the Light
Solstice. Mehadeh and Neszmbe had been spirited away by the stone before they
could participate.
She curled her hand around the stone. It grew warm in her palm as she
and the serpent made their way onto the bridge. The moon shone on the rippling
water. A large shape surfaced, sinister in the silence, and a creature the size
of a calf leapt into the air. The resounding splash barely missed soaking them,
as they instinctively ducked and were splattered with cold drops. Mehadeh
glanced at the moat and hurried through the gate, her serpent undulating fast
before her.
Ignoring the water creature, the magus hobbled up the dirt path. The
dark cape she wore swirling her invisible in the night, then revealing her like
a misplaced magic trick. To the side, Mehadeh glimpsed fleeting shapes in the
moonlight. Were they being followed, or was it just the foliage swaying in the
breeze, stirring the stagnant air?
On the wide veranda a three-tiered fountain played the water like music
amidst exotic plants, the blooms fragrant in the sultry night. The arched
entrance stood open to a dark interior. Without ceremony, Ir-A stepped over the
threshold. They followed through a hall, turned a corner and Mehadeh held her
hand above her eyes at the brightness of the richly furnished room, lit by
chandeliers glowing with hundreds of candles.
The magus dropped her ultramarine cape, which shrank as small as a moth
and fluttered up to the candles, blundering into one and bursting into flames.
Turning his head at the sparks streaming down around him, Neszmbe switched his
gaze to Ir-A, transfixed by the wrinkles that lined her face melting into a
smooth dewy complexion, while her wiry white hair thickened into soft blonde
tresses. Her tent-like robe grew darker and transformed into a red velvet gown
clinging to her now-voluptuous figure.
BLURB:
Lady
Lavinia Bramley is master of a Djinni.
Lavinia
runs away from her husband to make a life with the djinni Yasir, but it’s not
what she thought, not pearls and flying carpets and wishes come true . . .
Her
desperate efforts to find happiness with Yasir are foiled by her husband’s
reappearance, murder attempts by the jealous magician who cursed Yasir to the
urn, and Yasir’s desire for revenge.
Lavinia
finds love, and loyalty, are as ephemeral as ties of smoke.
TIES OF SMOKE on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ties-Smoke-Novel-Djinn-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B01M2BXKD9/ref=twoen-20
HIS MASTER’S BRIDE on amazon: http://tinyurl.com/mg83vjj
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Claudia Herring aspired to be a
baton twirler when she was five and an archaeologist at thirteen. When she
became a graphic designer and an author of fantasy, she decided she'd hit upon
the perfect compromise.
Along the way she worked as a
gift wrapper, a server in a Mexican restaurant at an amusement park (where she
rode the Black Dragon at midnight—an actual ride, not a sexual allusion) and an
illustrator in medical graphics (where they featured videos on wound healing
during lunch) at the Texas Medical Center.
Her novel, His Master's Bride, a
historical fantasy with romantic elements set in Regency England, won first
prize in the Houston Writer's Guild Novel Competition. Ties of Smoke is the
second in the series The Djinn Chronicles.
When she's not delving into the
world of the Djinn, Claudia is practicing yoga to go to that hushed space where
she imagines and plots her next fantasy novel.
If you like Diana Gabaldon’s
Outlander series or Carol Berg’s Soul Mirror series you'll love His Master’s
Bride and Ties of Smoke.
Website: http://www.claudiaherring.com
Twitter: @claudiakherring
Amazon author: http://www.amazon.com/author/claudiaherring
Follow
the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better the chances of winning.
The tour dates can be found here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your post will be published after administrator approval.