Look at that, lovelies! It’s already time for #WIP Wednesday again, and guess what comes out on Friday? THIS BOOK! ‘Tara’ (Daughters of Eltera Book 2) is available for pre-order here (it goes live this Friday, June 3rd!), and you can get a nice look at the cover on my reveal over here. For today I’ve got a snippet that really sums up the conundrum that Tara and Alaric are in. She’s a slave, and cursed to remain one, and he’s the assassin hired to deliver her to her next master.
—
“If you can fight, then why don’t you fight them? Why are you so –” He groaned. “- so okay with all of this?”
“I can’t fight them,” she muttered. Alaric let out a frustrated shout and stood up. He dropped the laptop on the coffee table before interlacing his fingers behind his head, growling as he fumed and paced across the room.
“Why, Tara? You have to give me more than that.”
The only reason she even contemplated answering him was that he seemed to really care. The answers would only make everything harder for him, would only complicate his job, would only complicate everything.
But… for some unknown reason she was going to answer him.
“You’ve seen the good half of what I am, Alaric, the immortality, the way I heal every morning when Eltera sends her power out to me and I light up.” She laughed a little to herself, suddenly at a loss for words.
How could she explain Gormahn’s curse? What words existed to make this mortal understand powers that hadn’t showed themselves for so long?
Fuck it.
“The other half of what I am is the curse, and when I have a master the curse shows itself as bands of light around my wrists. If I disobey, or even just piss them off, they activate and the pain is indescribable. Like fire and breaking bones and drowning all at the same time.”
He stared at her from across the room and she untucked her legs and leaned forward.
“I used to fight them. I used to fight the curse. I used to foolishly try and fight the power of a god. And then someone I loved died because I was too proud to accept who I am.” Tara winced. “I’m a slave, Alaric. No one can save me from that, it is what I am. And unless Gormahn decides to release all of us, which he’s never going to do, I will be a slave forever.”
“But -”
“Alaric, you’re only making this worse for yourself. I came to terms with it. I accept it, and it’s your job to deliver me to my next master. Neither of those facts are going to change.” She smiled bitterly, and he shouted a curse and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.
She didn’t know why after the conflict she felt so warm in her chest, even though it ached at the same time. No one had cared enough to get angry on her behalf in centuries, but while it was sweet of him, it didn’t mean anything.
She might as well have been any nameless object, and he was the delivery truck.
A handsome, kind, gun-toting delivery truck.
May the gods damn it all.
—
As she says, neither of those facts are going to change – but what are they going to do about it? You’ll have to check out the book to find out, and it’s OH SO CLOSE to being in all of your hands! Make sure to snag a copy on pre-order so it lands in your lap on Friday for some sweet weekend reading! Trust me, the end of this book is… epic. Until then, read on to find some other great authors on this blog hop!