Sorcerous Moons Spotlight
The Forests Of Dru
Sorcerous Moons book 4
An Enemy Land
Once Princess Oria
spun wicked daydreams from the legends of sorceresses kidnapped by the
barbarian Destrye. Now, though she’s come willingly, she finds herself in a
mirror of the old tales: the king’s foreign trophy of war, starved of magic,
surrounded by snowy forest and hostile strangers. But this place has secrets,
too—and Oria must learn them quickly if she is to survive.
A Treacherous Court
Instead of the refuge
he sought, King Lonen finds his homeland desperate and angry, simmering with
distrust of his wife. With open challenge to his rule, he knows he and Oria—the
warrior wounded and weak, the sorceress wrung dry of power—must somehow make a
display of might. And despite the desire that threatens to undo them both, he
still cannot so much as brush her skin.
A Fight for the Future
With war looming and
nowhere left to run, Lonen and Oria must use every intrigue and instinct they
can devise: to plumb Dru’s mysteries, to protect their people—and to hold fast
to each other. Because they know better than any what terrifying trial awaits…
Buy
links can be found here: http://www.jeffekennedy.com/the-forests-of-dru/
previous
books in the Sorcerous Moons series:
Lonen's
War - http://www.jeffekennedy.com/lonens-war/
Oria's
Gambit - http://www.jeffekennedy.com/orias-gambit/
The
Tides of Bára - http://www.jeffekennedy.com/the-tides-of-bara/
Excerpt:
“We won the war
and this is still the best the king’s table can command?”
Nolan poked at the
meat with a sour scowl, and Arnon clapped him on the shoulder. “Not much of a
homecoming, huh? You could have brought us game from the far forests and done
better.”
“I brought the
King of the Destrye instead.” Nolan shrugged him off. “That seemed more useful
at the time.”
Lonen, that
selfsame King of the Destrye, didn’t adjust his position to ease his aching
side, lest his brother misinterpret that as a sign of discomfort with the topic
of conversation. Nor did he miss the sidelong glance from Nolan that suggested
he might be reconsidering Lonen’s inherent usefulness. Not that Lonen could
argue much otherwise. Being laid up in bed recuperating for more than a week
didn’t lend itself to high-profile—or even marginally effective—rule.
Nevertheless, some remnant of his youthful self cringed, wishing he could do
something to earn his older brother’s approval rather than his scorn.
Mostly, though, he
longed to be back in that bed, under the furs with Oria, sharing her warmth,
basking in the surety that she slept beside him. To be there when the strange
dreams woke her.
Oria hadn’t wanted
him to be up and about yet, but Nolan—believed lost in battle, now miraculously
returned and restless with unsatisfied expectations—had decided he’d waited
long enough for explanations. Rather than risk having Nolan barge into his
bedchamber and interrogate Oria, Lonen had conceded to the lesser of the evils
and gotten himself to this private dinner with his two remaining brothers. The
last three of Archimago’s line, sadly diminished in robustness of every kind.
But three was one
more than they’d thought they had.
That had to be a
good thing. A blessing from Arill herself. Somehow, though, under the sharp
scrutiny of Nolan’s piercing blue stare, Lonen nursed a few doubts.
He gave in and
shifted, easing the pinch in his gut. The infection no longer poisoned him, but
the massive tissue damage had yet to replace itself—however much ever
would—despite Oria’s foolhardy attempt to give her life to heal him. That side
of his body sagged inward, as if part of him had been carved out.
Which, come to
think of it, it pretty much had.
With a grimace for
that, he forced himself to finish the slice of stringy roast on his plate, then
picked up his warmed wine and drank, hoping to mute some of the ache.
“It’s not good for
you to be upright in a chair like this,” Arnon said, frowning at him. “I can
see it pains you.”
“Father would say
a warrior can suffer far more than a bit of pain, especially in the service of
Dru,” Nolan replied, gaze never wavering from Lonen. “He would have expected
his successor to be sitting the throne and handling the pressing issues of the
Destrye, not lying abed with a foreign mistress.”
“You mean Her
Highness, Oria, Queen of the Destrye?” Lonen didn’t raise his voice, but his
tone carried all the iron resolve of his battle-axe. Enough that Nolan sat back
slightly, a hint of surprise flickering through his eyes before they sharpened
again. That’s right. I am not the same
little brother you knew before the war. He might not be ruling
impressively, but neither was he a pushover. Not anymore.
“She is Báran,”
Nolan said flatly, tempting Lonen to remark on his brother’s powers of
observation. But this was no time for levity. This conversation had been a long
time coming and Nolan clearly intended to have it out now. So be it—and Arill
hold him in her hand for this battle.
“I’m fully aware
of that, Nolan, as I met her in Bára, where she is in fact, a princess and
should be queen of her people by her own right.”
“What exactly
happened there?” Arnon put in, full of curiosity. “What?” He gave Nolan’s frown
a scowl of his own. “You’re not the only one who’s been sitting on questions
while Lonen concentrated on not dying,”
he added pointedly. “You’ve dragged him out of bed for this, so we might as
well get the whole story.”
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.
Her most
recent 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.
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, with The
Pages of the Mind
in May 2016 and The Edge of the Blade in December 2016.
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.
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