Sandra Hults
Author
Duty’s Song
Current Reading: Winter of the World – Ken Follet
Current Listening: World’s on Fire – Sarah Mclachlan
Business before pleasure, they say. Forgive my radio silence, illness and writer’s block are craptacular combinations. Writer’s block is a rarity for me but when it arrives, it goes whole hog. Book 6, Guardian’s Redemption, is wanting to start writing itself before its appointed hour. (Read: November 1 for those of you unfamiliar with my writing habits) I’m also trying to give myself time to appreciate that I just published my –fifth- book. I did not think in 2012 when I published Birth of Light that the series would have a longevity like this. I published my first book just to see if I could. Just because it sounded like a good idea at the time. Still, here we are. That is, in part what I think the release party is about. Celebrating the moment as much as the new book’s release. FIVE books, holy shit. What is your favorite “Oh, hell, I did that” moment?
With that being said, I hope to see the lot of you on my author page on October 1 at 7:30 EST for the Shadow’s Journey cover reveal. We are now 21 days from release day and preparations may become a madcap hurry. Illness has a way of delaying our best intentions. I am happy to say though I’m on the mend. I hope, also, to see you at the release party at Gathering Volumes on October 15 from 2-5. The little bit below is for a character you all will meet Guardian’s Redemption. By the way readers, brownie points to anyone who can tell me who that title MIGHT be about. You have met her on the blog and this is a continuation of her story. Ladies and gents, Emma Jacobs.
Duty’s song was as relentless as her brother’s pursuit. Emma reflected with a forlorn smile. Below her, fire stood stark against the darkness. Their childhood home was gone. Through tears, she watched the house burn. Hues of orange, white and red lit the night sky.
Her dreams as of late remained persistant. IN a way those dreams saved her life tonight. She was awake for their assault. The idiots tripped the wards at the edge of her land. Those wards served to warn her but, in truth, she had no offensive magic in her arsenal. Her hazel eyes flashed fire as she watched the structure collapsed. Emma had enough time to gather her wits, provisions for her journey and her family dagger. She knew she had to run but the thought saddened her all the same.
Her horse was saddled and she was off before the men even realized their quarry was gone. They thought to flush her out in the blaze. Perhaps now, Emma mused, she could finally have peace. Emma doubted the truth to that thought. The men could report that she died in the fire but her brother would know. Her twin would know. “Did you send them Edward?” She whispered as her heart bled. In her heart, she felt like her whole life had just been upended. “Did you cause this chaos that has destroyed everything we have ever known?” A cool night wind dried her tears. She ached to open the mental door between them. Fate above, she missed him more than she could put word to. Yet, that dark pulse still lingered in the south when she opened her sense. Duty called her and, at some point, she suspected she would reunite with him. Fate could only hope he had not destroyed whatever chance they had of rebuilding their lives.
Madryn’s book bled through the Mornesse. Even at this distance, Emma could feel it like a dark stain upon the realm. The magic pulsed through the land. Emma scowled. Why did her fellow royals leave the book when they ended the war? Her hazel eyes shadowed. The answer was simple because her question belonged to a child who knew nothing of Fate’s grace.
“Because our world, like all things, must have balance. The pulse you feel through the land is because the Light has left us.” Her grandmother’s teachings rang through her ears. Emma could almost feel the gentle rap of a walking stick against the back of her head. Sarina Starson favored the stick later in life as age crumpled her slender figure. Emma pushed the thought away and wiped her eyes.
With strength to the east; Duty will guide thee home Duty lay to the east, her heart to the south. “What good has Fate’s balance brought me and mine?” She growled and turned her horse from the scene below her. The ridge had offered her cover and time to say goodbye. Now she must get on with what the Light called her to do. She just watched her home, her life go up in flames. She supposed she had nowhere to go but up. She could no longer hide so perhaps it was time to fight. Her reluctance lingered for but a moment. “Ignoring it will not change Fate’s requirement of you, Em.” Her grandmother murmured again. This time she would swear she felt the rap of that blasted stick.
Emma kicked her horse forward. Fate guide me. The blessing left her mind laced with the light of holy. The power flex was minor but Edward would hear. In that moment, the wall between them faded. Her eyes flashed gold as his head snapped up. Fate bless thee, Edward Jacobs. The whisper and power’s push was minor. Enough to make him aware of her survival and to remind him of what waited. Their mother blessed them in this manner every night. Emma added the warmth of her love for him before she closed the door again. Soon enough, she suspected, she would blow the wall between them to smithereens. Duty called her. What lay ahead she could only guess.
Sandra Hults 