Greetings from all of us at Team Lowan. We have been on an extended hiatus dealing with a health problem but are on the mend and nearly back to full speed. We are hard at work on the third book in our Books of Binding series, Beneath a Stone Sky. At this point we are expecting book three to release in early 2020.
We are very excited about this book. Many of you have been asking when you’ll see more of Etienne and Cian – you don’t have much longer to wait. We are thrilled to delve deeper into Etienne’s story and Faerie itself in book three.
To whet your appetite, we wanted to give you a sneak peek into Beneath a Stone Sky, but before we do that, we promised a sale.
99 Cent Faerie Rising E-Book Sale
Today is one of our team member’s birthday and to celebrate we are putting the e-book for Faerie Rising: The First Book of Binding on sale at Amazon.com for 99 cents from now (Sept 18) until Sept 24, 2019.
A Sneak Peak at Beneath a Stone Sky
This is the current opening to Beneath a Stone Sky. Since we still have some time for tinkering before release, small changes may occur between now and the final version.
“And I say I don’t trust him. He’s Unseelie.” Etienne Knight brought his new car to a stop in the circle drive in front of Mulcahy House and cut the engine. He didn’t get to drive it too often because Cian, the sidhe prince closest to him, could not abide being surrounded by the steel chassis, but his current companion could.
The half-fae wizard Winter Mulcahy gave him a sidelong look, the January sun setting off the iridescence in her lovely, snow-white hair, all twisted up off her long neck in a loose bun. “And I don’t care. King Ceallach has been quite hospitable and his wife is in dire need of my help.” She rattled the rack of tiny empty potion bottles on her lap for emphasis. It could hold thirty, enough for a little more than a moon’s worth of treatments for the queen’s madness. “Not to mention he came to our aid in battle. If you want to stop coming with me every month, that’s fine. I don’t understand but I’ll honor your choice. I’ll ask Brian to escort me, instead.”
Etienne frowned. Brian was a young Hero and might be perfectly capable of escorting Winter through the realms of Faerie, but Etienne looked forward to spending these times alone with her. “I never said that. Just that I don’t trust Ceallach.”
Winter opened her car door, balancing the rack of potion bottles on her skinny knees. “Well, at least you were polite to him this time. I appreciate that.” She looked away in the direction of the rose trellises for a moment, and then looked back. “I don’t like keeping secrets from him.”
Etienne palmed his keys. “What, about his son, What’s-his-name?” Ironic, that. Winter had kept secrets from her apprentice for years.
“Aodhán, and yes. He needs to know his son is alive, but…” She trailed off, indecision clear on her face.
Etienne shrugged. “It’s none of our business. This Aodhán wants to keep his secret. It’s his business when he wants to reveal himself, if at all.” Unseelie business. Just the sort he did not want Winter involved in. “We don’t even know why. Could be bad.” Was probably bad, knowing the Unseelie courts.
Winter sighed. “I know. I just hate to see Ceallach and his poor queen hurting.”
Etienne moved his keys to his other hand and gave her thin shoulder a squeeze, compassion in his eyes. “The boy will come around eventually. Surely he has his reasons.”
She nodded. “I hope so.” And she swung her feet out of the car.
Etienne got out of the car and moved to the other side where Winter was struggling with the awkward rack. She had exchanged it for one full of potions at Ceallach’s twisting Brittle Keep. “Here, let me.” His voice came out gruff, gruffer than he really intended, but he took the rack with careful hands and stepped back for Winter to let herself out of the car.
She rewarded him with one of her bright smiles and his heart sped up. “Thank you, Etienne.” She hitched her bag up on one shoulder and gave him a light, lingering kiss on the cheek before moving past him to the sandy path leading to the ornately carved front door.
Etienne’s cool cheek burned from the heat of her kiss and he followed in silence.
Winter pushed open the door, smiled at Etienne over her shoulder, and then stepped into chaos.
Mulcahy House was filled with raucous laughter from dozens of throats and words that Etienne had not heard in what seemed a lifetime.
Dwarven.
“You need a towel!” A naked, dripping dwarf, stocky and powerfully built, was making his way down the left staircase, Cian, the other sidhe lord who lived with Winter, chasing after him with baby Noel in one arm and a thick blue bath sheet in the other hand. He met Etienne’s gaze and returned Etienne’s confusion with both panic and exasperation.
Etienne watched the dwarf wander by and down the hall, towel now in hand. “What’s going on?” he asked Cian.
Cian shrugged. “They showed up a few hours ago. Most of them are in the kitchen.”
Etienne put the bottle rack on the floor by the door and set off down the hall, curious and angry about the invasion in turns. He’d thought he’d left this crap behind him years ago.
Winter followed close behind him.
“You head back upstairs with Cian. I can handle this.”
Winter shook her head, those stubborn lines pulling at the corners of her mouth. “My house, too, Etienne. I—” Her attention was taken by two dwarven women arm wrestling in full armor at the mahogany dining room table. She sighed. “That will scratch.”
Etienne paused in the doorway. “You two, knock that off.”
The women laughed but stopped their game.
Winter raised a pale brow. “That wasn’t Faerie Gaelic.”
“No, it was Dwarven.”
She nodded, her voice soft. “I remember you once said that you spent some time with the dwarves. How long was it?”
Etienne was quiet for a moment, missing his named weapon, the six-shooter Agmundr, destroyed by a great faerie prince in October. It had been dwarven made and had kept him relatively safe for years. “Too long.” Or maybe not long enough. It depended on the memory.
They burst into the kitchen through a wall of sound. The deaf English wizard Fitz Martin sat at the table surrounded by dwarves, weaving in place as he went drink for drink with a pretty, redheaded dwarven maid in finely crafted green and gold armor, her hair sheared helmet-short and curling about her ears. The rest were feasting on what looked like every leftover in the house and taking bets on the drinking contest, mostly against Fitz. Over in the corner, the other English wizards, Alerich Ashimar and Thomas Griffin, were speaking in serious tones to a dwarf of above average height with his wide back to Etienne.
Alerich’s acerbic twin, Elspeth, was nowhere in sight. Not exactly a big loss.
One of the drunker dwarves noticed Winter and made to pinch her narrow backside. Etienne grabbed his wrist, twisting it, and had to remind himself not to break it, heavy dwarven bones or not. Instead, he bellowed over the noise, “What the sweet fuck is going on, here?”
The dwarf with Alerich turned, and Etienne felt his heart stutter. Ráthulfr, son of Ragnarr, prince of dwarves and master smith. The one who had forged Agmundr.
Etienne’s former master.
Ráthulfr’s expression was grave and he pointed to an empty chair nearby with his massive, forge-scarred hand. “Sit down, boy. We need to talk.”
We hope you enjoyed this sneak peek at Beneath a Stone Sky. There will be many more details and of course Books of Binding Flash Fiction coming in the next few months. If you are craving a bit of Seahaven between now and release day, make sure you check out the Reading Order Page at aelowan.com to find the free shorts listed in series chronological order, as well as many new Seahaven goodies that will be appearing over the next few months.
We hope that you have a wonderful fall. We are so happy to be back to work and can’t wait to bring you Beneath a Stone Sky and all things Seahaven!