Check out the SNEAK PEEK from...
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Archers of Avalon, Book Three
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SNEAK
PEEK
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CHAPTER
1
Scarlet had
her memories back, which meant two things.
She knew
where the Fountain of Youth was.
And she was
mad at Tristan.
Still
clutching a bloodstained knife in her hand, she marched through the graveyard
and glanced over her shoulder at the green-eyed boy she’d loved for centuries.
“By the way, you suck.”
“Wow,” he
said.
“I can’t
believe you tried to kill yourself.”
“I was
trying to keep you alive.”
“Agh. Spare
me your sacrificial agenda.” Another memory hit her and she turned to face him,
her blood boiling. “And you let me wander around with amnesia for two years
before meeting me?”
He opened
his mouth, but Scarlet cut him off. “And then you let me date Gabriel? What the
hell, Tristan?”
A muscle
flexed in his jaw. “First of all, I was supposed to die. So I didn’t think
intervening in your love life was any of my business. Gabriel made you feel
happy and safe and I wasn’t about to screw that up for you. And second,” he raised his voice over the
protest on Scarlet’s lips, “the reason I didn’t ‘meet’ you for two years was
because I didn’t think I’d be able to follow through with killing myself if you
and I were, you know…pals.” His eyes
glinted.
She
scowled. “Well that was selfish of you.” Turning, she resumed her walk through
the dark cemetery.
“You think I was selfish?” Scarlet could almost
hear his jaw drop as he followed behind her. “You’re the one who shut everyone out. You’re the one who kept secrets and stole stuff and ran away—“
“I had to
run away,” she snapped.
His voice
rumbled in anger. “Did you have to die too?”
Spinning
around to face him—again—Scarlet met his hard eyes in the darkness. “I wasn’t
trying to die.”
“But you
did,” he said coldly.
They stared
at each other for a moment, heartbreak colliding in the space between them.
Because of her connection to him, Scarlet could feel the hurt and fear pulsing
through his veins as his eyes traced over her in the moonlight.
But she
could also feel the love heating his core as he took her in. And it was the
love—that undying fire that blazed in him and burned through her—that stole her
words away as she looked at him.
He was so
beautiful. Even standing in a graveyard, covered in dirt and blood, he was
striking. His dark hair fell wild around his face and his green eyes shone in
the moonlight.
A shiver of
desire ran through him--or was it her?--and Scarlet clenched the knife in her
hand so she wouldn't do something stupid. Like crush her mouth to his and claw
at his clothes until there was nothing between them but heat and skin. But that
would, of course, lead to death.
Everything
always led to death.
Tristan
softened his voice as he scanned her face. “What happened in your last life,
Scar? What are you hiding?”
Scarlet's
chest tightened at his question.
Millions of
Avalon stars winked from above and reminded her of a time when she and Tristan
spent their days in the trees and everything was fair; everything was simple.
Nothing was
simple anymore.
He tilted
his head and repeated,"What are you hiding, Scar?"
She could
feel his heartbeat echoing inside her soul; powerful and constant, as his
emotions swam into her.
Patience... Love... Worry...
Could she
tell him the truth about the fountain? The whole
truth?
The truth
that would undo any hope they had of a happy ending?
She opened
her mouth—
“Holy crap!
Did you guys see that?” Nate jogged up to them with a knife in his hand, a grin
on his face, and a trickle of blood running down his neck. “I totally kicked
Ashman ass over there! I was all like hi-ya
and you wanna piece of me? I was a
super slayer! Buffy’s got nothing on me.”
Scarlet
shut her mouth and shifted away from Tristan’s searching eyes as Nate
continued.
“It was
life and death out there, guys. Life and
death. They just kept coming at me and I just kept putting them down.” Nate
took a moment to catch his breath. “I mean, sure, I screamed like a girl a few
times and accidently stabbed myself at the beginning, but still. I feel
amazing! For the first time in five hundred years I feel alive.”
Moving his
gaze away from Scarlet, Tristan eyed Nate's neck. “You’re bleeding.”
Nate
touched his wound and drew back bloody fingers. “I’m bleeding. Haha! I have a battle wound. Oh, this is so awesome.”
Tucking his knife into his waistband with a smile, he looked around. “Where’s
everyone else?”
Scarlet’s
stomach churned as reality whooshed in and slapped her in the face. “Raven
kidnapped Heather.” Saying it out loud had emotion crawling up her throat.
Nate’s face
fell. “What?”
With a deep
breath, Scarlet summed up the evening’s events. “Raven is actually
Clare—Heather’s boss at the coffee shop—not Laura. Laura was working for Raven,
but Raven killed her and dumped her body in a grave—”
Ohmygoodness.
Laura was really dead.
Scarlet blinked.
My guardian is dead.
More
emotion wiggled up her throat and she quickly swallowed, trying to keep her
focus on the things at hand.
Scarlet
cleared her throat. “Then Raven had an Ashman kick the crap out of me so she
could kidnap Heather and hold her ransom for the map to the fountain. And the
lifeforce between Tristan and I shifted. So I can still feel his emotions, but
he can’t feel mine anymore.”
Thank God.
If Tristan
were still able to sense her, he’d know she was freaking out. Not just about
Heather or Laura. But about the fountain and what finding it would mean.
A sick
feeling swirled inside her gut.
“And
because the lifeforce shifted, Scarlet now has her memories back,” Tristan
added, sliding his eyes to her.
Nate
blinked. “What? I go slaying for ten
minutes and I miss everything—wait.” His eyes shot to Scarlet. “Does that mean
you know where the fountain is?”
Scarlet
hesitated.
It was
decision time.
No truth?
The whole truth? A vague truth?
“Yes,” she
said, going with vague. It was always safer to start vague. “But we need to
rescue Heather before we do anything else.”
Her heart
started to hammer at the thought of her happy friend being held hostage by a
vengeful witch with a drug problem. So many things could go wrong.
So many
things already had.
Nate
nodded. “Did you see which direction Raven took her?”
Looking
around the cemetery, Scarlet shook her head and let out a groan of frustration
as guilt swamped her soul. “This is all my fault. I should have stayed by
Heather’s side. I should have protected her.”
Tristan
scanned the premises. His coat was sliced open in several places and dark
splotches of blood slowly seeped through the shredded fabric of the black
T-shirt he wore beneath.
His
immortal body wasn’t healing like it should, which meant his wounds had been
inflicted with Bluestone weapons.
Not good.
“Dude.”
Nate caught sight of Tristan’s injuries. “Are you okay?”
Tristan
looked down at his stained clothes and shrugged as if the slashes in his skin
were more of a nuisance than anything else. “I’m fine. The cuts are shallow.
Where’s Gabriel?”
Scarlet
furrowed her brow. “He came with me to the coffee shop, but he was gone when I
came out. He wasn’t with you guys?”
They shook
their heads and worry crept through Scarlet’s veins.
“I’m sure
he’s around here somewhere.” Tristan looked calm as he glanced around, but
Scarlet could feel concern coiling inside his chest. “Why don’t you two go look
for him at The Millhouse and I’ll search the rest of the graveyard.”
Scarlet
nodded.
Good plan.
Split up.
Find Gabriel. Rescue Heather.
And stay
away from the fountain.
Okay, that
last part might be difficult since Amnesia Scarlet spilled the beans about the
freaking map, but whatever. She could still throw them off. She could lie.
She’d been
lying for years.
As Scarlet
and Nate headed out of the cemetery, Tristan walked deeper into its shadowy
depths. Distant music from the ongoing Avalon carnival drifted through the
night air, making the wind sound eerily happy as it wrapped around headstones
and swept through Scarlet’s hair.
Putting her
knife away, she rubbed her head where it still throbbed from the blow Raven had
dealt her with the business end of a crossbow.
One more
reason to hate the crazy witch.
Everything
was so screwed up—
A sharp
pain darted up Scarlet’s body and twisted around her insides with liquid fire
until she doubled over. Sinking to the ground, Scarlet clutched her chest and
stomach, afraid her skin might split open and empty her insides all over the
grass. She tried to suck in air, but her lungs wouldn’t work.
Nate
dropped down beside her with terror in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
The fire
turned to ice and wrapped around her organs and bones, squeezing without mercy.
Scarlet couldn’t help but cry out loud.
“Tristan!”
Nate called, checking her pulse before pulling at the skin beneath her eyes to
check their color.
Usually
when Scarlet felt pain of any sort it was because her heart was failing. And
when her heart started to fail, her eyes would glow and her nose would bleed.
But this didn’t feel like heart failure.
This felt
like something else entirely.
She
squeezed her eyes shut and grimaced until the agony started to subside. Her
muscles loosened, her lungs started to expand, and soon Scarlet wasn’t hurting
anymore.
Out of pain,
but still very confused, she opened her eyes to find Tristan crouched beside
her.
His green
eyes were glowing into the night as panic oozed from his pores. “What just
happened?” He searched her face.
Good
question.
Scarlet
rubbed her chest to make sure all her insides were where they were supposed to
be. Yep. Still in one piece.
Phew.
“She just
collapsed in pain.” Nate turned his eyes from Scarlet to Tristan. “Dude. You
need to calm down. Your eyes are super green.”
Tristan
rubbed a hand over his mouth, still looking at Scarlet. “It must be the
transition. Maybe when the curse shifted we switched places, putting Scarlet in
pain without me, just like I used to be in pain when I was without her.”
Well crap.
That would
suck.
“I guess
that would make sense.” Nate scratched the back of his head. “Especially since
her pain went away when you walked back over to us.”
Scarlet
stood from the ground and brushed the cemetery grass off her pants as Tristan
and Nate rose to stand beside her.
A surge of
guilt rolled through Tristan and Scarlet hurried to reassure him. “I’m fine
now—”
“You’re not fine,” he snapped. “You fell to the
ground in pain when I was only thirty feet away from you.”
Yeah.
That was
weird.
Nate
pressed a finger to his lips. “If the lifeforce reversed your roles—”
“Oh no.”
Scarlet’s eyes widened as the possibility sank in. “If our roles have been
reversed, does that mean my touch can make Tristan sick? My touch can kill
him?”
She took a
step away from Tristan and felt his pounding heartbeat soften. Stepping back up
to him, the pounding resumed. “Oh no. No, no—”
“Okay.
Don’t freak out.” Nate held a hand up.
Too late.
“His heart
responds to my nearness.” Scarlet shook her head as her chest tightened in
despair. “No, no, no.”
This
couldn’t be happening.
“So it
appears the curse has shifted,” Nate said calmly. “We can handle this.” He held
up a calm hand to match his calm face and calm eyes as he looked at her. “All
we need to do is make sure you two stay within close range of one another so
you don’t writhe in pain, but far enough away so Tristan doesn’t, you know,
die.” He shrugged. “Easy. We’ll just reenact the ten-foot rule between you
guys.”
Nate stared
at them. Waiting.
“What?”
Tristan said.
Nate rolled
his eyes and thrust his hands in between Scarlet and Tristan, pushing their
bodies away from one another. “Ten feet. There you go. Now let’s go find
Gabriel so we can get our Heather rescue on. Then we can finally find the
Fountain of Youth and cure everyone of this God-forsaken and completely obnoxious
curse.” Turning, he headed down the street toward the Millhouse.
Scarlet and
Tristan slowly followed after him in stunned silence.
She was
killing Tristan with her very presence.
Glancing at
him under the yellow glow of the streetlamps, Scarlet ran her eyes along his
profile as he stared forward with a clenched jaw. He was fierce. He was
patient. He was everything she loved.
And he was
dying.
Divulging
the truth about the Fountain of Youth was no longer an option. Tristan’s life
was at stake.
To hell
with happily ever after.
Available December 11th!
Grab the first two books in the Archers of Avalon series!
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