Idol
of Blood
Looking
Glass Gods
Book
2
Jane
Kindred
Genre: Dark fantasy
with erotic and romantic
elements/
LGBTQ
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Date of Publication: June 23,
2015
ISBN: 978-161922-372-1
ASIN: B00U3M5ZNM
Number of pages: 232
Word Count: 80K
Cover Artist: Kanaxa
Book Description:
The price of revenge may be her
sanity…and the lives of those she loves.
No longer haunted by memories of
her life—and death—as the Meer of Rhyman, Ra looks forward to a quiet existence
with her lover Jak in the Haethfalt highlands.
Having made peace with Ahr, her
consort from her former life, Ra can finally explore her new relationship, free
of the ghosts of the past—until she unwittingly unearths Jak’s own.
Out of instinct, she uses her
Meeric power to heal the pain of Jak’s childhood trauma.
But all magic has a price, and
Ra’s bill has come due.
Succumbing to the affliction
inherent in her race, Ra flees to the mountain ruins where her mother’s temple
once stood. As the madness takes hold, she resurrects the ancient city of
AhlZel in a tremendous act of magic that seals her fate—and threatens to
destroy those who would give up everything to save her from herself.
Product
Warnings: Contains dark themes, violence, gender-bending sex, and recovered memories
of childhood sexual abuse.
Excerpt:
Since the light
was beginning to lower, they set up camp, only a dozen leagues from the green
riverbanks of Rhyman. Jak and Geffn lay on either side of Ra, a peculiar triad
of necessity, and Geffn, fatigued, was asleep almost instantly.
Ra curled away
from him toward Jak beneath her blanket, eyes seeming to glint like a cat’s, though
nothing else was visible in the darkness. “We haven’t really had a moment alone
since…” The soft murmur trailed off. Jak knew precisely what moment Ra meant.
Before they’d left Rhyman; before Ra had disappeared in the night to rescue
little Pearl—a Meerchild bred in captivity and kept in a cage by the prelate of
In’La; before Ra had set fire to the temple there, and the prelate with it, Jak
had thrown caution to the wind and climbed into bed with a goddess. The
commitment to celibacy Jak had tried to maintain since before Ra’s arrival in
Haethfalt had been tossed aside like a cheap shirt.
After returning
to Rhyman with Pearl, Ra had made no further overtures toward Jak, and Jak
hadn’t presumed to make any toward Ra.
“It’s all right.
We don’t need to—” The weak protest died on Jak’s lips as Ra’s descended on
them. Her kisses had a tendency to take one’s breath away, as if she gathered
it all into herself, holding it, holding time, before giving it back.
When she finally
let them both breathe, Ra slid beneath the blanket and rested her head on Jak’s
breast. “I could deepen Geffn’s sleep.”
Jak considered
it for a rash moment before squelching the thought. “No. That wouldn’t be fair
to him.” That was an understatement. Screwing one’s new lover while asleep next
to the jilted lover whose heart one had recently broken would be in bad form,
to say the least. And it would add more to that invisible price Ra must be
paying if she were to expend magical energy when she had so little physical
energy to spare. “We’ll have time enough when we get home.”
“Home.” Ra
snuggled closer. “That sounds very nice. I’ve never had a home before. Just a
temple.” She said the word as if it meant “jail”. While she spoke, however, her
hand moved down Jak’s arm with feathery strokes, dipped over Jak’s hip and
across Jak’s belly, and played at the loose drawstring waistband, fingers just
inside it.
Jak placed a
hand over Ra’s, meaning to stop her, but Ra entwined their fingers and slid
them lower. As if it were an act of self-pleasuring, Ra used Jak’s fingers to
delve deeper and press against the supple flesh, tentative, leisurely motions
encouraging Jak to show her how to proceed.
“When we return
to Mound RemPetaJakGeffnMelKeirenRa—” She murmured the absurdly long name of
their Haethfalt household as if they were only having a quiet conversation—“I’d
like to make a quilt by hand.” She drew Jak’s fingers in a complex pattern, up
and down, over and across, doubling back in infinity symbols that ended in
sharp, insistent points, like the edges of rings bisecting each other. “Do you
like this pattern?”
Jak shivered and
breathed ascent as Ra pressed Jak’s fingers into the center point of the
bisection. Her motions became smaller, tighter and more definitive.
“Some little
rosettes where the squares join,” Ra whispered. “One. Two. Three. Four…” She
demonstrated. “With a diamond in the center. Right…there.”
Jak had to grab
the blanket and bite down on it to keep the sweet little crooning howl Ra had
inspired from escaping audibly.
“And another,
there.”
Jak struggled
not to thrash, rationing sharp rhythmic breaths into the fabric of the blanket.
“And there.”
Oh gods.
“And then just
there.”
In the grip of a
wave of pleasure so intense it was almost unbearable, Jak clutched Ra’s hand so
she could no longer effect her blissful torment, the other hand digging into
the bedroll as pantomimed moans were buried in the crook of an elbow.
“Perhaps in
peacock blue with threads of gold,” Ra continued as if she hadn’t just
destroyed Jak utterly, her other hand casually stroking once more up Jak’s arm.
“The colors of Ludtaht Ra. Though it may be time for new colors. I’ve always
liked indigo.” She nestled against the hollow of Jak’s neck, putting a little
kiss there before relaxing with a sigh to match Jak’s heaving breath. “Does
that work for you?”
It took a moment
to remember how to swallow and speak. “Work for me?” Jak let out a nervous,
whispered laugh. “Just about killed me. I’m crazy about it.”
About
the Author:
Jane Kindred is the author of
epic fantasy series The House of Arkhangel’sk, Demons of Elysium, and Looking
Glass Gods. She spent her formative years ruining her eyes reading romance
novels in the Tucson sun and watching Star Trek marathons in the dark. She now
writes to the sound of San Francisco foghorns while two cats slowly but surely
edge her off the side of the bed.
Tour
giveaway
1 set of signed print copies of
Books 1 and 2 of Looking Glass Gods
1 Cult of Isis Necklace
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