Spotlight
Olive's to-do list: Feed the cat. Pay the rent. Save Faythander. Again.
After Olive's last trip through Faythander, she wants nothing more than a nice vacation. But there's never time for relaxation when goblin treachery is afoot. When Geth, a goblin Spellweaver, destroys the Everblossom—a tree containing Faythander's pure magic—the fairy-world utopia begins to die. The bloom of the Everblossom is all that remains of pure magic. Now Olive must travel through Earth and Faythander to find a place where it will flourish.
As a psychiatrist, her skills are top notch. However, her abilities to handle patients with abnormal mental behaviors will be put to the test when she confronts Geth. Nothing has prepared her for what he reveals to her about goblins and elves. As Olive's quest takes her from her home in Houston through the most dangerous places in Faythander, she learns that history is a muddled subject, especially when elves are involved.
Her only comfort comes from Kull, her Viking warrior sidekick—who somehow negates her bad fortune. Yet how long can their relationship last when his past is brought to light? Olive will be tested beyond anything she has endured so far, as the secrets of Faythander's sordid and bloody past are exposed—one that could irrevocably alter the future and destroy the lives of everyone she loves.
After Olive's last trip through Faythander, she wants nothing more than a nice vacation. But there's never time for relaxation when goblin treachery is afoot. When Geth, a goblin Spellweaver, destroys the Everblossom—a tree containing Faythander's pure magic—the fairy-world utopia begins to die. The bloom of the Everblossom is all that remains of pure magic. Now Olive must travel through Earth and Faythander to find a place where it will flourish.
As a psychiatrist, her skills are top notch. However, her abilities to handle patients with abnormal mental behaviors will be put to the test when she confronts Geth. Nothing has prepared her for what he reveals to her about goblins and elves. As Olive's quest takes her from her home in Houston through the most dangerous places in Faythander, she learns that history is a muddled subject, especially when elves are involved.
Her only comfort comes from Kull, her Viking warrior sidekick—who somehow negates her bad fortune. Yet how long can their relationship last when his past is brought to light? Olive will be tested beyond anything she has endured so far, as the secrets of Faythander's sordid and bloody past are exposed—one that could irrevocably alter the future and destroy the lives of everyone she loves.
Excerpt
I’m cursed with bad luck. There were no spells or evil fairy godmothers involved in said curse, and although I know plenty of people with magical powers who had motive and opportunity, I’m certain they never placed a jinx on me. Yet my life always seems to follow one principle—if things can go wrong, they will. Murphy’s Law.
But I have one thing working in my favor.
Kull, my Viking warrior sidekick, somehow negates my bad fortune. I call it his dumb luck. Whenever things go wrong, he makes them right. I have no explanation for this.
***
I sat with the Wult scouts in the pixie land swamps. The bonfire popped sparks of red and orange as a slow-moving, moldy-smelling breeze gusted past. We’d been tracking Kull’s sister, Heidel, for two weeks. Several times I’d debated turning back, but Kull made me stay. I had no other reason to keep traveling with the Wults.
“There’s no blood in it,” Brodnik said, his hand fisted around a drumstick. “How can we eat flesh that’s burnt this way?” He pointed the charred drumstick at me. “She’s overcooked it.”
“Take it easy,” I replied. “I’m a doctor, not a chef.” Star Trek references went right over their heads, so using them gave me endless amounts of amusement.
“You’ve ruined the whole meal.”
Kull stiffened. “Hold your tongue, Brodnik. I won’t allow you to speak to her that way.”
“But we’ve been tracking all day. We need nourishment, and she’s spoiled the only game we were able to catch in these gods-forsaken swamps.”
“I said hold your tongue.”
Brodnik grumbled something, and then attempted to rip a piece of flesh from the bone with no luck.
I secretly took joy in watching Kull defend me.
“I think it tastes delicious,” Rolf said, a smile spreading across his boyish face. The firelight illuminated the patches of hair growing on his upper lip and chin.
“You would say that,” Brodnik replied. “This meat’s as edible as that fuzz on your face you call a beard.”
Rolf squared his shoulders. “It is a beard.”
Brodnik laughed.
“It is!”
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