Fire and Lies (Tales of the Drui Book #2)

“I was there at the core buried deep within the earth where the Seidr dwells. But something was wrong, very wrong, and I can’t find the words to call it by name.”

Blood waters the fields of Alfheim. War rips across the land of elves and usurped kings. The Fae gods draw near, and Queen Kallan’s strength is tested as she follows King Rune into Alfheim. But the Shadow Beast caged within Rune’s body writhes in hunger, and Kallan’s newest companion, Bergen the legendary Berserk, is determined to end the conflict with her life.

As the witch, the king, and the berserk come together, the truth buried within the past begins to surface. Now, Kallan must master a dormant power or watch her kingdom fall to the Fae who will stop at nothing to keep their lies.

Fire and Lies (Tales of the Drui Book #2) picks up right where Dolor and Shadow left off, concluding one chapter of Kallan’s life as the next chapter begins.

Advanced Reader Copies are available 1 May 2016 →

Excerpt Chapter 28

 

Kallan dug her fingers into the stone of Rune’s window. Her body shook as she stared at the moon, pooling all her anger into her hands. Torunn, Geirolf, Daggon, Bergen, and Gudrun watched with worry in silence. Her breath was erratic.

“How far do I have to push?” Kallan’s growl trembled with anger.

“You could wait here,” Torunn said.

“Or the war room,” Geirolf suggested knowing Rune’s contempt for changed habitat.

Bergen crossed his arms over his bare chest and he leaned in the doorway. “You know him as well as I. Regardless of where she goes, he’ll only skirt around her.”

“He pushes her away with as much resolve as you couple with one,” Geirolf grumbled to Bergen.

Anger glowed in Kallan’s eye as she turned from her window and settled her attention on Rune’s brother as if to rebut. But she stopped, suddenly becoming conscious of Bergen’s wide, bare shoulders and muscular frame. The room grew quiet as one by one they noticed Kallan’s enlightened interests. Kallan dragged her gaze from Bergen’s waist to his torso, to his face where Bergen met her eyes.

With a revived enthusiasm in her step, Kallan held his eye and moved toward Bergen, sweeping right by him as she made her way to the back door of Rune’s bower. Eagerly, she yanked open the door. Kallan was across the hall and throwing open the door to the war room by the time the others jumped in step behind her.

Wide-eyed comprehension obscured Bergen’s face and he doubled his pace.

“Kallan!” Bergen beckoned as she marched herself across the room, past the table strewn with maps to the door on the other side.

“Kallan!” Bergen called again desperate to keep up.

Surprised to find the door unlocked, Kallan threw open the door to Bergen’s chambers and slipped inside his sitting room.

“Kallan!” Bergen kept on her heel.

With a jaunty amusement, she spun at the center of his sitting room, forcing Bergen to balance himself unnaturally to prevent falling into her. He shook his head in protest. “It’s my hide on the line. He won’t come after you. He’ll hunt me down and peg my ass to his target!”

“Not if you’re with me, he won’t.” Kallan grinned slyly. “Besides,” she said, looking him over once more. “You’re not actually bedding me.”

She spun on her heel, sauntered through his sitting room with a skip to her step, and happily swung open the door to Bergen’s bedroom.

“He won’t stop long enough to hear that part!” Bergen cried as she disappeared into his room.

Kallan’s troupe followed behind Bergen as she playfully dropped herself onto the foot of Bergen’s bed. Her face split wide with a grin, convinced this idea would work.

“He didn’t seem to mind when he offered you to double up with me that night,” she argued, looking up from her boots as she freed the laces.

“He made that threat knowing you wouldn’t follow through!”

Bergen watched her drop a slender boot to the floor. Her petite toes wiggled delightfully in the air. He clenched and unclenched his fist fighting back the wave of images bombarding his imagination.

“Kallan, don’t you think you’re going a bit too far with this one?” Geirolf chimed in as she unlaced her second boot.

In answer, she dropped it to the floor wbeside the other.

“What about you?” Bergen barked, looking to Daggon and Gudrun, who stood in the doorway, content to watch the events unfold. “What say you?”

With a set of matching grins, Daggon and Gudrun exchanged looks.

“This is a woman whose stallion is named ‘Astrid,’” Daggon said.

Kallan threw herself back onto Bergen’s bed.

“Who learned the spells I taught her with the sole purpose of slipping past the guards,” Gudrun said with a hint of admiration.

“She mastered the swords long before she bothered with diplomacy,” Daggon noted, peering down at Gudrun in fond recollection.

“And learned the Seidr only to best her father in battle…” Gudrun placed an affectionate hand on Daggon’s arm as a reminder.

With a gentle nod, Daggon looked back to Bergen.

“We learned a long time ago to let Kallan go where Kallan goes,” Gudrun said. “Our only purpose in teaching her was to ensure she could survive her own whims.”

They all gazed at Kallan sprawled happily out on Bergen’s bed, her hair splayed in a mass of disorder over the pillows and furs as she stretched her arms out to the sides as far as they could go.

Bergen noted the space left from the tips of her fingers to the edge of his bed and followed her hands down to her body.

“I’ll get you some extra blankets, Bergen,” Torunn said, taking her leave.

“Kallan,” Bergen growled miserably at the contented lump on his bed. “Are you sure this isn’t some ploy to finish me?”

He clenched his fists again somewhat peeved at the sight of an un-rumpled woman on his bed.

Without lifting her head from the furs, she studied the stone overhead remembering, what Rune’s looked like. With a satisfied smile, she answered plainly, “Perhaps.”

 

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