#MidweekTease Ethereal Guardian

Happy Wednesday. Time for another snippet from Ethereal Guardian, which will be the third book in the Ghosts of Salem series.

“Yeah, okay. I’m…I’ll be back.” Slipping through the door without a coat, she couldn’t stay out long. The cold snapped her up though, breaking both her anger and the strange hysteria that had surprised her. Comparing the crystal to a stain remover really belittled what Summer had done.
Wrapping her arms around herself, she walked to the garden and looked down where the earth was exposed, a few leaves there looked far too green for the season. Was she freaking out over nothing?
Summer wouldn’t hurt her, she was sure of that. Doubt still needled her, like the ice seeping into her slippers. One thing was certain. Magic was part of her, just as it was in each of the others, and she could either accept that and confront it, or deny it and risk something worse than making a calculated mistake, making a naïve one.
Plucking one of the leaves, she laid it flat in her palm. The magic that had revived it still flowed through it. Focusing, she tried to pull it out again. It darkened, twisted and curled up, looking like all the other leaves in the flower bed. Taking a deep breath, she blew the remnant away. If she couldn’t do something right, at least she could set it right.
The tiny spell had taken long enough that Gwen and Paige were on their way back up the stairs. Summer frowned and waited for Ember to approach. “I’m really sorry,” she said.
Ember nodded. “I know. It’s okay.”
Meeting her gaze, Summer’s shoulders dropped. “Thank you. I…Paige said something earlier and I don’t think you were there to hear it. She said that magic was a part of us, just like any other talent or ability. We can control it the same way we control our tempers or use a tool correctly.”
“Somehow I think making a mistake with magic will be worse than a temper tantrum.”
Summer looked at her feet. “Yeah, probably, but what I really meant was, there’s no use running from it and probably a lot better to learn to control it. Don’t you think so?”
Rather than answer, Ember turned to the stairs. “Actually, I was thinking just that while I was outside.”
Summer hurried to follow her up. “Really? That’s great!” When they reached the landing, she seized Ember in a hug.
“I get it. You’re worried about me. I appreciate that, but right now, I need to warm up. It’s cold out there.” She rubbed her arms.
“Right. We’ll…talk more later. Okay?”
Ember nodded and entered her bed room. Closing the door behind her she leaned on it. Could undoing magic teach her the control she needed? Maybe not, but it was a good place to start.

#MidWeekTease Ethereal Guardian

Welcome to another Wednesday and another excerpt from Ethereal Guardian. Picking up where we left off.

“So you put a spell on me?” Her voice was shrill to her own ears and Summer’s usually kind and smiling face blurred with the tears forming in Ember’s eyes.
“No, not a spell. Here.” She held her hand out and Ember happily dropped the stone in it. Turning her hand over, Summer circled a spot on the cuff of her sleeve. It disappeared.
Ember quirked an eyebrow. “It’s a Tide-to-go?” She almost laughed at the absurdity.
“No,” Summer drawled, weighing it down with contempt. “It’s cleansing, and it works on auras.”
This time Ember did giggle. “You're spot cleaning my aura?”
Summer laughed too. “Something like that. I was hoping, if I could wash away some of your instinctive resistance, you could see things in a new light. I really wasn’t trying to trick you or change you or anything. I wouldn’t do that.” Covering her hand, Summer squeezed. “You know you can trust me, right?”
“I thought so, but well, that was pretty sneaky. If you’re willing to do that, why wouldn’t you do something else? Maybe the ‘new light’ would be as you like.”
“No, Ember. Never.”
She scraped her chair back as Gwen and Paige passed by, carrying the remains from the spell. “Yeah, okay. I’m…I’ll be back.” Slipping through the door without a coat, she couldn’t stay out long.

Be sure to hop around to all this week's participants.

String of Pearls - E.D. Parr NEW RELEASE

Thank you for inviting me to your blog today with new release MM romance,

String of Pearls

The story is set in the same SciFi fantasy city as last year’s release, The Dreamboat.

Indigo Vaughn, the warlock head of security, features in the story along with a new cast of characters. When I wrote The Dreamboat, I already had the new characters in my head along with their story. Tobias Mars and Dante Pepper, the elite space pilots for the royal court, very nearly made an appearance in The Dreamboat, but because that story is about Indigo at last finding love, I decided they needed their own story.

Once upon a time Dante and Tobias were close to becoming lovers, but Dante met Viridian and fell in love. Tobias has yet to meet his love when String of Pearls, opens. He’s a man of high integrity, handsome, caring, but also longing for love and sex. String of Pearls is his love story.

Blurb

Handsome, elite space pilot, Tobias Mars is completing a special mission, when on a water planet, recently ravaged by space pirates, he discovers Dreft Hann hiding and injured in the sand dunes.

There’s instant attraction between the two men, but honorable Tobias believes the fact Dreft is in his care precludes him from showing his growing love for the young man. What’s worse is his shocking discovery of Dreft’s real identity. Even so, Tobias can’t deny his feelings for Dreft.

When head of royal security, powerful warlock, Indigo Vaughn discovers Dreft’s secret, he anticipates trouble.

As beautiful Dreft falls in love with Tobias and dreams of joining the elite pilot squad, trouble is brewing from someone in Dreft’s past.

Will love finally win with so many obstacles in Tobias and Dreft’s path?

Warning, the book contains MM sex, MMM sex, gay anal sex, MM oral sex

BUY the book

On special new release discount price only on the Evernight Publishing website

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Read an excerpt

Tobias Mars gazed at Dreft lying on top of the bed in room ten of the infirmary. Hari’s treatment had worked wonders and not only on Dreft’s wounds. Hari had cleaned Dreft up. His hair, now a dirt-free glossy hazelnut brown was brushed back to show off the handsome planes of his face. Hari had replaced Dreft’s strange boy-like clothes with the infirmary’s grey cotton pants and t-shirt. The man was, as his colleague, Dante, put it, deliciously pretty. For a fleeting moment, Tobias wondered what it would be like to kiss those perfect lips and hold that muscular body to his own. He shook the thought away.

Dreft opened his eyes and a shy smile spread on his mouth. As Tobias neared him, he shuffled up the bed to sit. “Thank you so much for helping me, sir.”

Tobias pulled a chair beside the bed and sat. “My name’s Tobias, Tobias Mars—no need to call me sir. How are you feeling?”

The handsome man’s eyes held gratitude. “I’m so much better. Thank you. I noticed the insignia on your jacket, sir.”

Tobias grinned as his fingers went to trace the gold and blue embroidered crest. “I’m one of the queen’s pilot explorers. I guess you could call us the elite unit. All the same, call me Tobias. I’d like that.”

“I’ve heard that you have to be aristocracy to be chosen for the unit. Is that true?”

A little frown creased between Tobias’s eyes. “Have you? Where’d you hear that?” A spike of worry prevented him from answering with the truth. His intense security training from the warlock, Indigo Vaughn, threw a question into his mind. Could Dreft be a rival court’s spy or even assassin?

“Sorry. I mean no harm. I heard a lot of things during my years as a slave.” Dreft’s voice held anxiety. His blue eyes clouded.

Witnessing Dreft’s unease, a wave of kindness softened Tobias’s look and tone. “How long were you a slave?” He remembered Hari’s description of the scars on Dreft’s back.

Sadness passed in Dreft’s eyes. “Five years—I’ve been a slave since I was stolen from my home when I was eighteen. I, I’d become desperate, hence the leap from the ship when we cruised reasonably low to take water from the lake on the planet where you rescued me.” His voice cracked a little.

Tobias watched fear replace the sadness in the young man’s eyes. He wanted to lighten the mood. “Hey, are you hungry? I bet Hari hasn’t given you breakfast and I’ve not eaten yet. Do you feel up to a little walk? My home isn’t far. I have loads of food—fruit, pancakes, savory pastries, and coffee. What do you say?”

Dreft gave him the most endearing look. “I’m very hungry.”

Tobias stood and pushed the chair away from the bed. He held out his arm for Dreft to take and helped him stand. “Hang on. You have no shoes.” Tobias left Dreft perched on the side of the bed. He went to the closet inset at the end of the wall and brought back a pair of felt slip-ons for Dreft.

Dreft pushed his feet into them. “Thank you. I think the medicA threw away what I was wearing.”

“Hari is the best medicA available. I trust him implicitly, but he’s a hygiene fanatic. He probably burned what you were dressed in.” Tobias laughed. “Can you manage or will you take my arm. It’s a gesture of support.”

Dreft’s gaze raked Tobias’s face and he smiled softly. “I know the clothes you found me in probably gave you the impression I’m a pirate’s plaything. I’d like to explain—”

“You don’t need to—” Tobias hurried to assure Dreft.

“I want to.” He held Tobias’s arm.

“After you’ve eaten, then.” Tobias led the way from the room, along the corridor and out of the infirmary door. His villa was two doors down from Dante’s and he walked slowly favoring Dreft’s halting steps.

“I’m limping but Hari said my legs were only bruised under the abrasions. Sorry. I didn’t expect them to hurt so much. My ribs don’t and they were broken.”

“Hari fixed your ribs and administered slow release pain reliever at the site. He fixed your abrasions somewhat, but it’s good to heal naturally where possible. He wants you to rest.” A smile sprang to Tobias’s lips. “If he sees us, he’ll probably say to me, ‘Sir, you got Dreft Hann up too soon.’”

©E.D. Parr, Evernight Publishing, 2018

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#Midweektease Ethereal Guardian

Thank you for joining me for another Wednesday and another MidWeekTease. I hope you enjoy this snippet from Ethereal Guardian. Be sure to visit all the other great blogs on this hop.

She had enough time to sit down, open her hummus, and dip a carrot in it before Summer came down the stairs.
“How did it go?” she asked, only half interested in the reply.
Summer shrugged. “I’m not familiar with the spell, but she definitely cast something.”
Ember crunched although all the sweetness was gone from the orange stick in her mouth. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. Um, Ember.”
She paused in the act of chewing. The way she used her name gave an indication that Ember wouldn’t like what came next.
“Never mind.” Summer walked around her, and Ember expected her to sit in the next chair, but she didn’t. At least, not right away.
The hairs on the back of her neck rose. A chill washed down her spine to be replaced by a hot flash.
“What are you doing?!” she cried, reaching up and catching Summer’s hand. Static seemed to build and then zapped her. She dropped Summer’s hand, but held onto the stone in it, amethyst.
“Just…” Summer sighed heavily and sat down. “I know you’re having trouble accepting our gift.”
“So you put a spell on me?” Her voice was shrill to her own ears and Summer’s usually kind and smiling face blurred with the tears forming in Ember’s eyes.

#MidWeekTease Ethereal Guardian

Like so many, I've been neglecting my MidWeekTeases. Well, time to fix that. Here's another snippet from Ethereal Gaurdian!

Having a ghost in her room was nothing like having a boy in her room. Not because Geoffrey wasn’t masculine, but rather he couldn’t have power over her. He couldn’t even touch her really. It was more like talking to someone in a video call. “So, that dream I had, about my ancestor? Her name was Anne. And her brother was Thom. I don’t think she was a witch, though.”
“Maybe she wasn’t.”
“Then how is it I’m a witch?”
Geoffrey shrugged, which actually made her angry. “Perhaps it was another ancestor.”
That appeased her. “Sure, that might be it.”
“Do you remember anything else? I knew of a woman named Anne, but she was older than Mary. I don’t recall if she had a brother.”
“Um, Dorothy.” She racked her brain to try and remember the dream. “Her cousin, I think. She was the suspect.”
Looking into the distance, he mused. “Dorothy. I was little when she was hung. I don’t remember it except when my mother used her as a warning to my sister.” He turned to her. “You should write down your dreams. That way you can remember them better.”
Ember nodded. “Yeah. I’ll do that. Thanks Geoffrey.”
“Let me know how I can help.” Geoffrey frowned as he said it, giving the impression that he wished he could help and knew his situation meant he couldn’t do much of anything.
Before she could reassure him, Paige yelled, “We’re done, Ember. You can come out now.”
Ember rolled her eyes. “Great.”
“Don’t let their mocking dampen your concern. I believe it’s not unfounded.”
“Thanks Geoffrey. I’m going to grab something to eat.” She muttered, “Maybe then they won’t wonder about me.”