RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 1, 2024
I am excited to share that I will be releasing a new O4S-related series, In the King's Power. Part 1 will be available as an ebook on September 1, for only 99 cents. Parts 2-6 will be $3.99 each.
The story will be released serially - one section each month:
- September - Part 1
- October - Part 2
- November - Part 3
- December - Part 4
- January, 2025 - Part 5
- February, 2025 - Part 6
SERIES OVERVIEW
Alyssa Calderon, powerful psychic, and highly trained field
operative for the Order of the Four Sons, gets separated from her team when a
mission goes south. Injured and alone, she finds a door that leads her to a
strange and magical world called Corbenic. And the door doesn’t lead her just
anywhere—it delivers her right to the royal palace, where she now finds herself
at the mercy of its tyrannical King, James Sarpedonne. Days turn into weeks.
Weeks turn into months. As Alyssa remains a prisoner, she finds her hope of
ever returning home waning. Can Corbenic be her new home? Does she want it
to be? She finds there are no easy answers, especially as she comes to make new
friends, a new family, maybe even a new life.
PART 1 SYNOPSIS
Almost immediately, Alyssa finds that she feels oddly drawn
to her royal captors, a feeling that appears to be mutual. King James
recognizes Alyssa’s value as a seer and decides to keep her at the palace to
serve him, which includes getting engaged to a prince. As Alyssa struggles to
find her footing in this alien world -- a world filled with geomancers and
alchemists, nobles and courtesans, fairies and mermaids – she must also find a
way to hang on to her self.
EXCERPT
The dining room was small, just big enough for
the table, chairs, and space for servants to move about, but no less
sumptuously appointed than the halls. A crystal chandelier hung from the
recessed ceiling. A fireplace dominated one wall, windows the other, brocade
drapes tied back to give them a view of the sea. Everything, every surface, was
patterned, engraved, embroidered, enameled. Even the ceiling beams overhead
were carved and inset with jewels. In such a close space, it was overpowering.
When Alyssa entered, the men at the table stood, and James’ voice
greeted her, “Ah, here she is. Excellent. We’re so pleased you could join us.”
She halted, heart hammering in her ears. Besides James, there were two
other men and a boy. All of them were mages. Powerful ones. Even the kid, and Geoff,
too, who left her side and joined them.
He gave her the nod. Bowing her head, she curtsied low.
After a polite interval, James said, “You may rise.”
She did. Clasping her hands tightly in front of her so she wouldn’t
fidget, Alyssa looked around at them. James was at the head of the table. He’d
changed for dinner and now wore a cream-colored suit, embroidered with red,
yellow, and green flowering vines, trimmed with gold threads, carnelians, and
tourmalines. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. She
picked the thought out of his head, Geoff must have advised her on how to
behave. Good.
She was going to have to watch it. Her psychic antennae needed to be up
and running, but she couldn’t get carried away. She couldn’t afford to go all
space-cadet in front of these people. Yet a great deal of information came to
her all at once. The man to James’ right was younger, dressed in emerald and
gold, then the boy, who was about ten. The boy wore violet, though he wore
short pants and stockings beneath his coat instead of trousers. She knew
immediately that those three were related. The family resemblance would have
been obvious to anyone, but she could feel the bloodline running through them
like a current, running in a straight line: father, son, grandson.
The man on James’ left was dressed in black and gold brocade. Alyssa
looked at him, then quickly away, the blush stinging her cheeks like a slap. If
James was beautiful, this man was simply unearthly. He was the same age as
James, but with his smooth cheeks and reed-thin body, he could pass for a
teenager. He had skin like milk, copper hair, and the bluest eyes she’d ever
seen, almost turquoise. He would have been a perfect angel but for the
expression on his lovely face: utter distaste and contempt, as if she were an
unpleasant odor that had wafted into the room. She also found that he and James
had an unusually intense attachment. It was sexual, yes, but there was
something more to it than that-- something she’d never felt before. James’ son
seemed to have a similar bond with Geoff.
All this came to her in the space of a few seconds. She didn’t have time
to ponder any of it, though, before James spoke again, “I am James Walter
Erebus Sarpedonne. I am pleased to present to you my son and Heir,” he gestured
to the man at his right, “Prince Henri James Endymion Sarpedonne.” He gestured
to the boy, “My grandson, Prince Leopold Felix Sebastien Sarpedonne.” He
touched the elbow of the man on his left. “My inspirer and chamberlain, Lord
Endymion Sinnis Heosphoros Miltiades.” At last, he nodded to Geoff. “And you’ve
already met Lord Britomart.”
Alyssa inclined her head to each of them in turn, which she thought was
a perfectly acceptable way to acknowledge everybody, but Endymion seemed
offended. She didn’t look at him again, but she could feel the loathing
radiating off him like heat off a stove. It took her aback-- she’d been awake
for all of five and a half hours. What could she possibly have done to piss him
off?
James nodded to the spot across from him and Geoff pulled the chair out
for her. The seat was cushioned, but it had a carved wooden back. She sat
stiffly, mindful of her bandages, her hands folded in her lap.
The rest of them sat, still watching her.
“How are you feeling, Miss Calderon?” Prince Henri asked. Unlike everyone
else, he was built like a linebacker: thick neck, slab-like shoulders, and big,
meaty fists. The face beneath his beard was round and sweet. Blue-eyed and
russet-haired, he was nice enough to look at, but in this room, that put him at
tragically average.
Their eyes met. With a start, she realized he’d been the one who’d found
her. When she’d fallen through the doorway and landed here, Prince Henri had
discovered her, filthy, bloody, and unconscious, on the palace grounds. The spill of dark hair, the limp, splayed
limbs. He turns her over, eyes widening when he sees her face. Gently,
carefully, he lifts her up in those huge arms, holding her against his broad
chest--
“Miss Calderon?” Sky-blue eyes looked into hers with increasing concern.
Well, Earth skies, anyway.
Alyssa blinked. “Huh?”
“I asked how you were feeling,” Henri said.
Right. Space cadet thing. Her back was throbbing something awful, but
she managed a smile. “Oh, I’m up and about, thank you.”
On her right, Geoff whispered, “Your Grace.”
She kept that smile painted on. “Your Grace.” Addressing them all, she
added, “In fact, I really appreciate this opportunity to say thank you in
person. I’m so grateful for everything you’ve done. I know the Order will be as
well.” Then she remembered she wasn’t supposed to talk. Well, that was about as
much speech as she had prepared anyhow.
There was a pause. Then Henri said, “Think nothing of it, mademoiselle.
It is the least we could do.”
Servants began to make the rounds. Her napkin was placed in her lap for
her. Wine and water were poured. (Alyssa declined the former, so they offered
her iced tea instead). Then came an assortment of hors d’oeuvres: scallops,
quail eggs, snapper crudo on cucumbers, dolma, mini quiches, sausages, sweet
potato croquettes, savory tarts, roasted vegetables, breads.
When everyone had been served, James said, “Everyone’s terribly curious
about you, mademoiselle, and how you came to be here. Go on, tell them what you
told me.”
Putting her fork down, Alyssa repeated her sitch report, more or less
verbatim. When she got to the part about neutralizing targets, the boy,
Leopold, piped up, “What were the targets?” His gray-green eyes were bright and
inquisitive.
“Demons,” she replied.
“Yes, but what kind?”
“Ghouls.”
“How did you neutralize them?”
“Grenades to flush ‘em out. Flame throwers to finish ‘em off.”
“Really?” he leaned forward eagerly. “What else have you fought?”
“Now, Leo,” Henri admonished, “it’s her tale. Let her tell it.”
Disappointed, the boy sank back in his chair. Alyssa gave him a little
smile, then told them the rest of it.
“What was it that wounded you?” Henri asked.
“A gug.”
“A what?”
“A gug. Y’know, the--” she started to raise her arms to pantomime the
enormous mouth opening and closing, but immediately regretted it. The pain was
so intense, she had to grip the edge of the table for support. “-- the vertical
jaws? About… about twelve feet tall? No? Well, they eat ghouls. They have pink
eyes and these nasty arms that split at the elbow, so they have four sets of
talons. One of them raked me down the back.”
They stared at her, aghast. “How on earth did you get away?” Geoff
asked.
“Ran like hell.”
Leopold spoke up again. “But the poison--?”
“Yeah, I don’t know. I just… kept going.”
“This Order you mentioned before,” James said. “Tell us about it.”
The pain was really starting to wear her out, and she was not prepared
for that question. “That’s a lot of history to cover. The Order’s very old.”
He took a sip of wine. “We have time.”
“Well, the Order began about five thousand years ago, in a place called
Egypt. It was started by a group of mages who dedicated themselves to
protecting our world from extradimensional threats. Since then, we’ve branched
out to include not only mages, but scholars, soldiers, psychics, and
technicians, but the mission stayed the same: protect humanity from demons and
dark magic. We operate in secret, but we’re basically a nation unto ourselves.
We have a government, laws, schools, customs, even a religion of sorts. I was
born into it. Not everyone is.”
“Why do you operate in secret?” Henri asked.
“Because throughout my world’s history, there have been times when it
wasn’t safe to be a mage.”
“So, the rulers of your world, they are not mages?” James asked.
“Almost never.”
Onyx eyes regarded her across the table. “How many members would you say
this Order of yours has?”
“Well, we’re global, so. A lot.”
Without warning, Endymion slammed his hand down on the table. “Your Wisdom.”
Alyssa had almost forgotten he was there. “Sorry…? Oh! Sorry! Your
Wisdom! I forgot! I’m so sorry. We don’t use honorifics like that where I come
from. Your Wisdom. It won’t happen again.”
Still indignant, Endymion opened his mouth to speak again, but James
touched his arm. “She is foreign, after all.”
James motioned for the servants to bring the next course. It was the
soup course, and a selection of broths and bisques were ladled out.
“Now, where were we?” James mused. “Oh, yes. Your Order. Ancient, stealthy--”
“Are there many women in the Order?” Henri interjected.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Many women soldiers, like you?”
Alyssa tasted her soup, pomegranate seeds and split peas. Delicious. Too
bad she wasn’t hungrier. “It’s not uncommon, Your Grace.”
The notion seemed to disturb him. “It must be very dangerous in your
world, for the women to have to fight alongside the men.”
“Where I come from, Your Grace, we are considered equal to men. We don’t
fight because we’re desperate. We fight out of duty, and because some of us are
good at it.”
James laughed outright at that.
Meeting his gaze squarely, Alyssa said, “I’ll wager I’m trained on every
weapon you are and then some. Your Wisdom.”
The King stopped laughing. Next to him, Endymion looked murderous...
