A CROWN OF STARS by Pelaam

A CROWN OF STARS by Pelaam

As one of the fae, Anil is shocked that he must seek his mate in the human world, and riddles are his only clues to who that might be.

Anil is very attracted to Cefin when they meet, but this human lacks the crown of stars the riddle foretold.

However, when Cefin is kidnapped, there’s nothing Anil won’t do to get him back, even travel to the lair of the creature that took him.

Now Anil has a rescue to undertake as well as solving the mystery of the crown of stars.

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Excerpt:

 

A cascade of water startled Anil from his reverie, and he fluttered his wings with indignation. Droplets of water sprayed around, but none caught the culprit, although Anil heard his friend’s laughter.

“You’ll pay for that later, Fintan. I won’t forget.” Anil shook himself for good measure, and then flew toward the sounds of more laughter.

“It’ll be worth it.” Fintan lay sprawled comfortably across a large flower, and grinned up at Anil. He scooted up, so that both could perch on the large, golden bloom. “I wanted to cheer you up. You don’t seem yourself these last few days.”

Fintan looked as concerned as he sounded, and Anil hugged him tightly. “I can’t explain it,” he said. “I just feel ... unsettled. As though there’s something I should do, or somewhere I should be. Yet there isn’t. But I feel a pull, an urge.” He shook his head and sighed heavily. “It makes no sense to me. I just can’t put it into words.”

“Do you think it’s the mating urge?” Fintan’s voice dropped to a whisper.

“But there is no one,” Anil said, and his voice rose in frustration. “I’m attracted to no one I know among the fae. I’ve looked around. There are no strangers in our glade, and I even spoke to an elf, and he says things are quiet in the woodland realm, and I don’t feel the urge to go there. I just feel ... unsettled. Like I need to be—somewhere else.” He sighed heavily.

Fintan rose into the air and then leaned down to pull Anil up. “Let’s go and see Nuha. She may find something to help you in her seeing bowl.”

Anil hovered with his friend. “You’ll come with me?” he asked.

“Of course. That’s what friends are for.”

Anil grinned. “I’m lucky to have you,” he said as they flew towards Nuha’s tree.

Nuha welcomed them both inside, and took them through to a room at the back of her home. Anil and Fintan sat side by side, and Nuha took her place at a table. In the centre of the table sat a wide, shallow, dark blue bowl. Nuha stirred the water inside her seeing bowl, and gazed at the swirls as Anil and Fintan watched intently.

"He whom you seek has come," she murmured.

Her voice was deeper, more resonant, and almost unrecognisable from her normal light and gay tones.

"Who?" Anil asked eagerly, but Nuha showed no sign of having heard him.

"You will know him from the signs, a crown of stars, blue like the ocean, and golden sun. But there is danger. Danger comes from iron over water. To leave love unfound is to give it to darkness. To find love is to look beyond our realm, and into the realm of mortals, yet as close as a kiss."

The water stilled, and Nuha looked up at them.

"Is that it?" Anil asked. "It's all in riddles. Can't you tell me what any of that meant?"

"Sorry, Anil, but I never remember what was spoken or can decipher the meanings even if you told me word for word. That's the way the waters work." Nuha stretched and rubbed her eyes.

"A crown with stars in it," Fintan said. "Is the crown itself blue, or is that something else? Crowns are usually golden, so that makes no sense."

"None of it makes sense," Anil said and shook his head. "Worse yet, I have to look in the mortal realm. Why there? Surely my soul mate can't be a mortal?"

"Soul mates come in many forms, Anil." Nuha’s voice was soft, but stern.

Anil winced at the chiding tone. "Sorry," he muttered. I'm a fairy, one of the fae. I expected my mate to be a fae, or perhaps elven, but not a mortal. Now what do I do? Do I ignore the call? But that meant danger. I'm so confused.

Fintan seemed to sense his distress, clasped his hand, and pulled him to his feet. "Thank you, Nuha. You see what you see, and it's up to us now."

Once outside Nula's home, Anil turned to his friend. "What do I do?"

"We need to let your family know what Nuha has said. Then we need to go into the mortal realm, and find your soul mate."

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DIVINE KNIGHT by Michelle L. Levigne

DIVINE KNIGHT by Michelle Levigne

A Neighborlee, Ohio Story

Enemies converge on Divine's Emporium. The question of whether they succeed rests in the secrets of Angela's forgotten past.

Equinox: Maurice has a day of full-size freedom to spend with his true love, Holly. Their day of fun ends in panic, when Angela is attacked and the defenses of Divine's Emporium are breached. In the search to find out who hired thieves to steal books full of inimical magic from the shop and provided them with magic charms to do it, Angela's memories are stirred. Strange dreams disturb her sleep and she asks questions she hasn't thought of in decades.

Ethan Jarrod, a particularly gifted P.I. with some mysteries of his own, joins forces with local P.I. John Stanzer to identify Angela's enemies. Is Jarrod the knight from her dreams, or the final weapon of her enemies, to destroy all the magic of Divine's Emporium and Angela herself?
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~Excerpt~

The winkies circled a painting that sat on a crate near the doorway. They kept trying to light on the frame and then flittering off again almost immediately. No wonder, Maurice decided a moment later, when he narrowed his eyes and separated the agitated red light of the winkies from the agitated red haze of magic coating the frame.

Then he saw the two hands gripping the bottom of the frame, the knuckles white and the tips of the fingers turning purple from trapped blood. He lunged forward, going to his knees on the crates, and grabbed hold of Angela's wrists. A hot sheet of irritated, strained magic wrapped around him, yanking the breath out of his lungs for a moment.

Angela looked up at him, pale and sweating, her lips bitten through and bloody, her eyes wide. Maurice nearly roared from the sudden stab of fear that cut through him. Angela's customary serenity was entirely missing--she was afraid and in pain.

"Hold on, Angie-baby," he growled, and threw himself backwards, using all his weight to yank her up and out of the painting.

Holly shouted. Behind him, he was vaguely aware of running feet, thudding on the landing and then down the stairs.

Maurice gritted his teeth and leaned backwards when the painting's magic got stubborn and resisted him. For a precious couple of heartbeats, Angela hung in mid-air, stretched between Maurice's grip and the painting's, still caught in it from the knees down.

At last something snapped, and there was a smell like ozone and hairs caught in a blow dryer. The two of them went tumbling toward the door of the painting room. Angela landed on him, her elbow in his gut, and Maurice saw stars when the back of his head hit the edge of a crate.

"You…okay?" he gasped, trying to convince his diaphragm to resume working and let him breathe.

"Maurice." Angela nodded. Sweat coated her face and darkened her hair. She closed her eyes and took a couple deep breaths. "Thank you."

"Hey, what are pals for?" Then he realized something was wrong. Missing. "Holly?"

"They took her." She staggered to her feet and past him.

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SHE BLINDED ME WITH SCIENCE by Michelle L. Levigne

SHE BLINDED ME WITH SCIENCE by Michele L. Levigne

All's Fae In Love And Chocolate Book Three

Sophie's doctoral thesis stated magic was a psychosomatic phenomenon. Few took her seriously...she had a family reputation for strangeness and pointed ears to live down. In her research, she ran into Kevyn at a science fiction convention. When strange things happened, she slowly realized that she wasn't going insane...magic was real.

Kevyn was a Fae trying to avoid family traditions. He lived on the run in the Human realms, making his living as a day actor, staying under the radar. On an acting gig at a convention, he met up with Sophie and realized that she could not only see through his magic, she had magic. When Hunters showed up to drag Kevyn home and make him become an Advocate, he let Sophie capture him and take him home for research, thereby rescuing him from a fate worse than death...respectability and responsibility. Somewhere along the way, the lines between researcher and lab rat became blurred, then switched places, and the two of them discovered a magic of their own, and rescued each other.

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Excerpt:

"Don't bother trying to make me hallucinate or give me bad dreams or do anything to influence my mind." Sophie tugged on the collar of her shirt and revealed an ornate silver beaded choker with onyx, alabaster and amethyst beads in between. She laughed when Kevyn flinched at the recognizable pattern. "I'm prepared for you. Guess Great-aunt Serena wasn't as crazy as everyone thought."

She slammed the door as she left. Kevyn was amused to note that she didn't lock it. Because she didn't think he could break through the wall of magic she had woven, or because there was no lock? What had she used this room for, anyway? A pantry? A guest room that never materialized?

Great-aunt Serena had believed in her Fae blood and gathered information to pass to the next generation. Somehow, the old lady learned the sequence of those beads. They were real magic. Protective. Dispelling strong illusions that could influence the mind. Kevyn wondered if Sophie wore that necklace all the time, and that was how she had seen through his invisibility magic at the convention.

That arrangement of beads and the inherent magical power of those particular semi-precious stones also did more to put a damper on magic than anything else Sophie had done to this room. Kevyn sat down on the bed, propped his chin in his bound hands and settled down for some serious thinking. What if he got her to take that necklace off? Would Sophie's inborn magical potential break free and fly?

The door creaked open before he could get any further than that thought. Blushing, Sophie stepped into the room, holding out the key for the chains that bound his hands. Kevyn grinned, and she blushed more. He wisely said nothing as she unlocked his wrists and neck.

"You have to believe, I wouldn't do this if I wasn't so desperate," she whispered, and brushed her fingertips over his neck.

He flinched when her fingertips brushed the rash on his skin where the silver chain had touched. Then a tingle of soothing magic seeped from her gentle touch. Involuntary magic. On Sophie's part.

What could she do if she didn't wear that necklace, effectively blinding and binding herself? Kevyn knew there was far more to Sophie Hunter the Halfling than she could ever guess.

"You have no idea what desperation really means, sweetheart," he murmured.

"I won't hurt you. I promise. I know we'll never be friends now, but--" She shrugged and stepped backwards for the door.

"We can be friends. Just ask me to stay, instead of making me." He stayed seated on the bed.

Sophie said nothing, just reached behind herself for the doorknob.

"No? Well, maybe next time."

"Is there anything you're allergic to?" she asked, when she should have stepped out the door and closed it. "I mean…when I make dinner."

"You're not going to starve me? How nice." He settled back on the bed and crossed his arms under his head.

"Kevyn." She sighed and visibly fought down a flash of anger. He was glad to see that anger. She wasn't going to let guilt and fear and whatever other problems she had keep her prisoner. "What did you mean, about desperation?"

"This little room is no prison at all, compared to the life my family wants me to lead." He crossed his ankles. "You probably won't believe me, but you're doing me a favor, keeping me here."

"No, I don't believe you. Why would you try to make me feel better?" She stomped out of the room and slammed the door.

"Maybe because you're in a nastier prison than I am," Kevyn whispered. "And because I like you."

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