Migraines

Sorry for the late post this week, everyone. I am on day three of on/off migraines, so I'm going to take the weekend off and rest. I will be back with a post next week and, of course, I'll still be writing whenever my head is feeling well, so no worries there. Everyone take care of yourselves and have a great week.

Still Celebrating!

As an author, it is my role in society to provide entertainment. I help my readers to find that moment of clarity within themselves; a catharsis of sorts. It's one of the reasons I feel that all artists are important and should be treated as though they are necessary. If you've been self-isolating, I'm sure that you've been leaning heavily on the works of your favorite authors, actors, writers, painters, and all other forms of artists. 

Last week, I finally got to fulfill my role and help all of you! I am still running off that high!

I haven't seen any pictures released, which saddened me, but my novel did get a 5-star rating on Goodreads which left me cheering! All in all, I'll count another rating as a success!

Have you read Lord's Curse yet? What are you thinking about it so far? I can't wait to see your reviews!

Eeek! Lord's Curse Release Day!!!

It's finally here! I am so excited It's been a long journey, filled with more mistakes on my part than I want to admit to. Despite that, I am so pleased to finally be able to share the end product with all of you! Its been an intense year, but there is something so uplifting about finally getting it out to you guys. I don't have kids, but I have always assumed that it's like sending your child away to school or college. You won't be there to guide it anymore and it has to stand on its own. Fortunately, I think I have managed to prepare it adequately, with some great help from my editor and beta readers.

Not only that, but the proof copy arrived yesterday, and it's even more gorgeous beside Hunter's Gambit than it was on its own!

It's my wish that you'll all settle in with it after work and enjoy the adventure. Definitely let me know of course! I love seeing pictures and would love to see how excited you guys are. Use the hashtags #lordscurse, #kitsuneken, or #kitsuneken2 anywhere online to share your pictures! I'll be following along, hoping to read when you find a new favourite quote or as you're knocked for a loop by a twist in the story. 

Speaking of that, would you guys be interested in having a temporarily pinned post on FB to discuss the book, hash out conspiracy theories, or just to post your thoughts on it? Let me know and I can make one for you guys. 

And that's it for me! Go out and get your copy of Lord's Curse. It should be available everywhere you buy ebooks. 

Sneak Peek - Lord's Curse

I promised you a bit of the book today to whet your appetite for the main course next week. So, without further ado, here is the first chapter of Lord's Curse! Set your calendars for the 12th and remember that the ebook is on pre-order! 

Chapter 1

     Deckard knew that healing people wasn’t easy. It took skill, patience, and knowledge to mend bones, close wounds, and stop disease. His innate abilities helped, of course, but he refused to rely on their power. Mainly because he had always wished that he didn’t have it at all. Blessed were rare and prized; they could heal anything short of true death. Unfortunately, due to their rarity, they were treated much in the same way a rare animal was; they lived fine lives in gilded cages. A beautiful contraption, so long as you didn’t think too hard about the fact that it was still a cage.

     He had never been kept that way. Instead, his mother had taught him to use his ability sparingly, gently encouraging the body to mend itself faster while he healed with more conventional means rather than let his secret out. He was the youngest healer in Hidan, but he had studied hard, trained for years to learn the trade and gain the trust of the community. He had built himself a normal life.

     All that work and effort… wasted.

     Dark thoughts fouled his mood, and the weather seemed to follow suit, bringing winds that chilled him to the bone. He shivered, pulling his jacket snugly around him. Deckard turned the corner with relief as he saw the warm glow of the Lucky Koi Inn. The chill of spring hadn’t been replaced by summer’s warmth yet and wouldn’t be for another month or more. The cold had gotten to him more than he liked lately, a condition he hoped the fire burning in the Koi’s huge stone fireplace would be able to solve.

     He studiously ignored the fact that the cold he’d been feeling had nothing to do with the weather.

     He jogged to the heavy door and opened it, slipping inside.

     The lamps were lit in the center of the room, the area most densely filled, leaving dark, lonely spots against the walls where young lovers could pretend they had privacy. The stone fireplace sat against the far wall, beside the door that led into the kitchen. The fireplace was a two way, open to both rooms and through it, the scent of old fish stew and new bread with melting butter wafted into the main room.

     As the door closed behind him, every eye turned his way. Their eyes judged him warily; the same as they would Tieni simply for being one of the Corvidae. He waited to be recognized and his heart skipped in an unhealthy way when he realized that while they knew him, they weren’t sure if he was a friend or a stranger anymore.

     Deckard had been living in Hidan since he was eleven. He’d fought hard to be accepted, to be welcome in their places. It had taken years and becoming a healer to do it. The idea of working his way back to that acceptance among them seemed insurmountable.

     He would have left were it not for seeing Tieni in the far corner, near the kitchen, strumming her lute. Her hair and face were dark, but her clothes were bright, garish when compared to the rest of the townsfolk. She saw him and smiled. That smile still made him feel giddy. She quietly played another measure and then shook her curly hair out, thanking everyone. Even from the door, he could hear, faintly, the sound of her thick hair beads clicking. She gestured towards the bar with the instrument and quickly began tugging a thin string through its bridge. She bit her lower lip as the cord stretched.

     Deckard walked over to the bar focusing on Tieni’s strong hands rather than the stares of people he’d thought of as friends. As he neared the bar, Kenneth caught his eye, an expression of pity on his face.

     “They’ll get over it soon enough, Deckard,” he said, cleaning a glass. “It’s only been a week, after all.” His expression was friendly, and Deckard relaxed seeing it. At least one person didn’t think he had suddenly changed just because they’d found out he was a blessed.

     Kenneth had been the bartender here since Deckard had moved here, but he thought the man was wrong in this case. Nothing had been right since the stranger, Richard, had come to town. With the way things were going, he didn’t think they’d get any better when he finally left again.

     Richard had been searching for a ship lost at sea decades before. While in Hidan, four men had nearly succeeded in murdering him. It had been Kuzunoha, his own ex-girlfriend, who had saved the stranger’s life by bringing Richard to Deckard. Once healed, Richard had convinced her to go treasure hunting with him. Deckard had thought that neither of them would be his trouble again. Until the stranger had returned to town a week later with Kuzunoha nearly dead in his arms.

     During their adventure, she’d gotten herself infected with a mold that had been turning her insides to jelly. His heart had been caught in his throat, choking him as he’d felt her heartbeat stutter and stop. He shivered remembering the feeling of her dying in his arms. He’d been lucky that the healing itself hadn’t killed her. He hadn’t considered the consequences before he’d made use of his power, forcing the mold and sickness out through her pores.

     Everyone thought he’d brought her back from the dead.

     He hadn’t, of course. There were limits to his power and death was one of them. Kuzunoha had been on the brink, unconscious with a heart stuttering to a stop, but it was close enough for his power to restart it as the sickness was forced out of her body. Everyone had seen him do it, his body practically glowing with the magic released.

     Of course, he didn’t regret saving Kuzunoha’s life. He just hoped that people would come to their senses soon; that saving her wouldn’t end up costing him the life he’d built here.

     “I hope so. Could you have a couple of drinks and some stew brought over to my table?”

     Kenneth nodded.

     “The usual drinks for you and the cro– and Tieni?”

     Kenneth was a good man, but he still referred to Tieni as a crow. Strangers were always treated with a mix of suspicion and attraction, and that held double for the traveling folk known as the Corvidae. Fortunately, Tieni could sing and play the lute more than passably well. Since she’d left her family, they let her play in the inns, walk around Hidan and outwardly, people welcomed her like they would have any other traveling bard. So long as she didn’t steal their men, their children, their coin, or caused any trouble. Of course, his relationship with her was seen as proof of the other three and some people were becoming vocal about it.

     Kenneth’s eyes flicked to Deckard’s left, noting someone walking up to the bar and gave Deckard a nod.

     Deckard glanced behind him to see who was coming and smiled, recognizing Carol, the smith’s youngest daughter. She was younger than him, wearing her bright hair bound into a matron’s hair clip. Her wool dress was undyed, other than a single tiny handprint in bright blue. She carried her young son in her arms.

     He knew her from around town, but the first time he'd spent time with her was when he'd helped deliver her son a few months back. What had she named the boy again? Calvin? He hoped the child hadn’t taken ill. It was all too easy for cold to get into the lungs when they were that young.

     “Good eve, Master Healer,” Carol said, pausing when her voice caught. She could be terribly nervous at times. He tried to smile warmly, even as he stepped back towards the bar.

     “Good eve to you, Carol. How is Calvin doing?”

     She’d come in much closer than she usually preferred to. Her expression was intense; wide unblinking eyes and the rest of her face set as if rigor mortis were about to set in. Before he could worry about what might be wrong, she thrust a thick set of blankets at him. The baby burbled happily inside, smiling as if he recognized Deckard, at least enough to know that he was a friend.

     “I didn't ask before; I didn't know to ask... can you bless my baby? I want him to grow up strong and handsome and skilled with bow and fishing rod...”

     Deckard held up his hands and moved away.

     “Carol... I helped you deliver him. I'm the same guy I was then.”

     Her eyes filled with tears of relief and she pulled Calvin towards her chest, hugging him.

     “You blessed him when he was born? Thank you!”

     That was not what he’d been trying to say. He tried again. “Carol, I didn't... I can’t…”

     She looked confused and then her expression turned stricken and she squeezed Calvin to her chest protectively. The babe squeaked and then burbled at his mother in annoyance.

     “You don't approve of my son?”

     “Calvin is fine-”

     “Is it me you don't approve of?”

     Calvin had started to whimper now, not sure why his mother and friend were arguing. In any other situation, he would have taken Calvin from her, playing with him to make him smile again. He wouldn’t do it with Carol acting so erratically.

     He had to stop this before it got out of hand. Tieni stepped in front of him and gestured at Carol’s baby.

     “The blessed doesn’t feel worthy of your thanks but he knows that you will be a perfect mother to the little one.”

     Carol pulled Calvin closer to her breasts as if worried Tieni might try to reach out and grab him. She looked up to Deckard for confirmation. She smiled after he nodded and glanced back at her baby as she walked away.

     “Thank you,” he whispered.

     He was normally better with words, but the idea that he could do what Carol had asked was ludicrous. He was just a man. One with a God-given gift that could heal nearly any sickness, but a man, nonetheless. Who would have come up with the idea that he could grant wishes and make people’s lives easier? Everyone’s eyes were still on him.

     Tieni pretended not to notice.

     “You need to learn how to escape from people like that.”

     At her words, every eye turned to glare at her. More than a few of those included him in their wrathful stare. Kenneth growled loudly behind them.

     “Hey! No one messes with one of Hidan’s healers. Blessed or not, he's safe in my establishment. Go back to your drinks.”

     There was a pregnant pause before everyone returned to their food and talk. Deckard let out a breath.

     “Thank you.”

     Kenneth picked up another glass, filling it.

     “My momma nearly died of the flu; didn't because you helped her. Whether you healed her or blessed her, I got nothing to say either way. You got the job done and that’s what matters. Now, go take a seat.” He slid their drinks towards them.

     Tieni smiled at Kenneth and grabbed the ale he’d pushed towards her with one hand while he grabbed the light-colored wine. Tieni led the way to one of the dark tables, near enough to the fire that Deckard started to sweat. He put his drink on the table and pulled his jacket off, tossing it on the back of his chair before sitting down. This close to the fire, it should be thoroughly heated by the time they wanted to go back home.

     “Thank you Tieni. I’m sorry you had to see… that.”

     “I hadn’t expected anything else. I mean, I waltzed in and took the best-looking guy in town from them. They were never going to like me,” she said, pretending as if he’d meant the glares she’d received, rather than his embarrassment. She continued, “I will say that I'm surprised to get it from the menfolk too. Normally it's only women that are the vindictive ones, fearing I'll steal their husbands and sons.”

     He wanted to argue, but even if it hadn’t been true before, with his status as a blessed known, he would certainly be Hidan’s most eligible bachelor. Some were treating his newfound status as if he were a gift of the heavens, but even the ones that distrusted him were willing to thrust their daughters at him. Elder Zeisolf had begged him to consider his twelve-year-old granddaughter for a betrothal since she wouldn’t be able to legally marry for another five years.

     “They don’t seem to understand that if I was going to marry someone here, I would have done it already.” His tone had venom to it.

      Tieni took a drink from her mug and licked the ale froth from her upper lip.

     “No one wanted you to marry her, but they still would have preferred her to me.”

     It was a nice assumption, but he wouldn’t have bet on it holding water. Most people in town wanted nothing to do with Kuzunoha. They tolerated her, would accept her spending her family’s money in their establishments, but that was as far as it went. Even her beauty and her family’s wealth hadn’t been enough to entice more than one or two to offer, unsuccessfully, for her hand. He admitted that after he’d broken it off between them, that realization had cheered him, petty as it was.

     “I'd hoped they would start accepting you as one of them.” He told her.

     She scoffed. “Deckard, some of these people still refer to you as the ‘new boy’.”

     The new boy… while he preferred wine, with the way this conversation was going, he wished he’d ordered something harder.

     “What are they saying about Kuzunoha?” He asked.

     “What you would expect; you healed her for old times’ sake, that you still love her and are using me,” she snorted. “I don’t mind admitting that I had wondered. Now that she’s been with us for a week, I see those rumors are just that. Speaking of, how long before she can go home?”

      Deckard frowned, looking to his drink again.

     “The sickness that nearly killed her is gone. Unfortunately, it did a lot of damage before I pushed it out. Her body is weak and thin, her blood flows sluggish and her muscles could take weeks to fully repair themselves. And don’t get me started on that leg injury.”

      “You could heal her faster, couldn’t you?”

     He resented the question. First, he didn’t want to rely on his power that way, had trained hard for years so he wouldn’t have to. He also didn’t want to set the precedence that he would. Healing was difficult enough the way he used it, bolstering all his patients to heal a little faster than they would have naturally. He didn’t even know if he could use it the way she suggested, and he wasn’t going to put any energy into finding out.  

     “I don't want her in my home any more than you do, but I won’t turn her out until she’s well.”

     He was also concerned that she wouldn’t stay at her sister's, meaning that she’d be staying with Richard. In addition to the Koi being less than optimal for someone convalescing, he also didn’t think that sharing a room with that man would result in the rest she needed.

     Tieni nodded and hesitantly put her hand on his. “My father’s letter arrived. He’s wondering when I’ll rejoin the caravan.”

     Deckard sipped his wine again and leaned back. The Corvidae didn’t settle often. They might for a season, maybe two, but if they stayed longer, they tended to stay forever. Tieni had been here since the festival of light, a full season already.  

     “What did you tell him?”

     “I’ll wait until he gets here and see how things are if I haven’t decided before then.” She shrugged. “He should arrive by late summer.”

     “That wasn’t what I asked.” He moved a hand to hers and wrapped it around her fingers.

     She looked away. “I can’t stay forever, Deckard. I like you. But if you’re asking if I’d ever give it up and stay in one place…” she shook her head. “I can’t answer that yet.”

     He kept his hand on hers, but she turned hers so that he could caress her wrist. She knew how much it soothed him. 

     “Would you consider leaving Hidan?” she asked.

     The idea nearly gave him hives. Travel was dangerous; his father had died on the road and his mother had never been the same. Inside the walls, there was safety… but even more than that, Hidan was home now. His heart was pounding. Could he leave town, leave everything that he knew for her?

     “Can I think about it?”

     He saw a shadow move out of the corner of his eye and turned to see Kenneth’s wife bringing out their dinners. Tieni leaned over the table and kissed him over the bowls of thick stew and fresh-baked bread.

     “Of course.”