The FAERY Month of May

Why would a mortal month be strongly associated with timeless beings?

And does that make May a time to celebrate – or to beware?

Some things just go together like sun and fun, peanut butter and jelly, and Watson and Holmes. One pairing that's much, much older is that of faeries and May.

The ancient Celts of the British Isles and much of Europe celebrated Beltane as a spring festival of renewal, fertility, planting and growth. Many people today still observe Beltane.  Even more celebrate May Day (May 1^st). Just as the spirits of the dead and other supernatural beings are associated with the waning of the light at Samhain or Halloween, the veil between worlds is also believed to be thin during this time of growth and new life. And the creatures to be most afraid of?

Faeries.

While many May rituals were simply happy celebrations, just as many were intended for protection. It’s no coincidence that a portion of the Beltane feast was given as an offering to the fae. Associated with nature spirits, they were considered to be one of the main threats to the success of the growing season and the fruitfulness of both livestock and humans. Faeries were easily offended and quick to anger. Unless appeased, they might cause a crop to wilt or cows to stop producing milk. (Mind you, they might do so anyway out of mischief or sheer spite!)

Pleasant weather often accompanies May but sleeping in the open air was considered dangerous because the faeries were thought to be at their most powerful during this month. Worse, both male and female fae were actively on the prowl for attractive mortals to carry off to their otherworldly realms! There, the captives would become lovers, servants, nursemaids … or simply toys. If the easily-bored fae tired of you, you might eventually be freed. But since time moves differently there, a mere day could be years long and you would not return to the world you knew.

Meeting a faery in broad daylight in May was also perilous. Even the most benign of fae beings could be tricky. Any conversation had to carefully negotiated so you wouldn’t accidentally agree to a bad bargain or be fooled into making a promise you couldn’t fulfill. Ordinary words that humans take for granted could be dangerous. A simple “thank you” was the height of insult!

Small wonder that people sought to protect themselves, their households, and their farms from these powerful and capricious immortals.

Since we're only halfway through this perilous month, I've included the following tips from one of my past posts:

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THE FAE

Garlands made of yellow flowers such as marsh marigolds and primroses were hung over the barn doors to protect the horses from being ridden to exhaustion by faeries in the night. The flowers were also spread over windowsills and hung above the door-posts of the house for safety. Your best bet, however, was a plant called St. John's Wort. Wearing it was said to provide strong protection from faery magic.

Faeries could vanish at will and remain invisible to mortal eyes for as long as they pleased. Carrying a four-leafed clover would allow you to see and thus avoid them. A Celtic tradition was to sew several of the clovers into a tiny bag to be worn around the neck. You could discern the faeries once for each clover in the bag.

Red berries were believed to keep faeries at bay, especially if they were from rowan trees, mountain ash or holly. So did red verbena (a flower). Daisies were often tucked into children’s pockets or woven into fanciful chains to wear around their necks to prevent them from being taken away by the faeries. And if you were walking through the woods, it was best to carry a walking stick or staff made of ash or rowan wood.

Traditionally, yeast-risen bread provided protection from the Fae. Carrying bread with you, even just a crust, had a two-fold effect. It would repel some faeries. Other faeries would accept it as an offering and leave you alone.

My Welsh gramma taught me the old tradition of leaving a saucer of milk and a slice of bread or some bread crusts on the back porch for the faeries, so they wouldn’t play pranks on the family, ruin the garden, or trouble the livestock.

Salt is associated with purity, and spreading salt across the threshold and along the windowsills has often been used to keep faeries, demons, and spirits out of houses. If you had to carry food to the farmhands in the fields or tote your lunch to school, sprinkling it with salt was said to keep the faeries from taking it – or from extracting the nourishment from it unseen!

Even humble oatmeal was believed to be a faery repellent. You could carry a handful of dry oatmeal in your pocket or sprinkle it on your clothes.

But the very best protection against faeries? Iron. In any form or shape, legend has it that the metal is like kryptonite to the fae. If you kept an iron nail in your pocket, you couldn’t be carried away by them. Sometimes iron nails were sewn into the hems of children’s clothing for that very reason. A pair of iron shears hung on the wall near a baby’s bed was said to prevent the child from being swapped for a sickly faery baby. Horseshoes were nailed over doorposts, not for “luck” as we sometimes do today, but to repel the fae. Some traditions call for the horseshoe to be placed on its side like the letter “C”, resembling the crescent moon.

Enjoy the rest of the merry month of May – and don't forget to watch out for faeries!

..............................................................

Faeries + Fantasy + Romance
= The Grim Series

Available in paperback, Kindle ebook, audiobook and Audible See ALL Dani Harper novels on her Amazon Author Page or go to her website at http://www.daniharper.com

It was a Dark and Stormy Night... a Bring It Back(list) feature by Dani Harper

An excerpt from
STORM WARNED, 
Book 3 of the Grim Series:

The sound of shattering glass woke him, and for a moment Liam didn’t know where he was. Another crash from somewhere above cleared some of the sleep from his brain, but the roaring in his ears continued. Wind, he realized suddenly. A hellacious storm was shaking the entire house to its century-old foundations. He’d fallen asleep in front of the damn TV again, but it was off and so were the lights. Power must be—

Twin bolts of lightning struck close by, and instinct had him diving for the floor behind the couch just as something exploded in the yard. Before he could take another breath, thunder battered his senses until he was forced to clamp his hands over his ears. The floor beneath him vibrated and shards of glass and wood rained down around him. And something huge, dark and heavy came crashing down beside him like a damn refrigerator, narrowly missing him.

This is Book 3 but 
every story in the series
can stand alone.

When the tumult finally died away, lightning continued to flare and flicker, enabling him to see part of a tree impaling the living room wall, stripped of all branches like a giant’s spear—and right where Brewster the Mooster had always hung. Uncle Conell’s ancient trophy had been named by a three-year-old Liam, and was practically part of the family. Now the searing flashes of light revealed the enormous stuffed head upside down mere inches from to Liam’s hiding place. Its monstrous antlers had been driven into the floorboards, and one glass eye hung free like something out of a horror movie.

Every window in the room had shattered, and the force of the wind drove the rain sideways through the opening, the furious drops soaking everything.

Cautiously, Liam rose and felt his way to the kitchen where a collection of candles, flashlights, and battery-filled lanterns collected dust on top of the fridge. He grabbed a lantern, and tucked a small penlight in his pocket, but with the near-continuous flashes from the storm, he quickly realized there was little point in turning either light on. No point going upstairs either—the sound alone was enough to tell him that the windows were gone up there as well, and he couldn’t do anything more about that than about the broken glass that blanketed the living room. 

Suddenly the house shook hard enough that pictures fell from walls in every room, as if to underscore that this was no ordinary thunderstorm. Tornadoes were rare here but not unheard of, and Liam decided to err on the side of caution, taking shelter in the bottom of a solidly-built hallway closet. 

Whose bright idea was it to put the door to the damn cellar on the outside of the house?

Image: Bigstock.com

From the back cover:

When Caris’s unearthly musical talent attracts the attention of the Wild Hunt, the Welsh farm girl is stolen away to serve as a faery grim, a herald of death. Two centuries later, she’s finally escaped back to the human world—and into the present-day life of a reclusive and heartbroken American musician.

Music was Liam’s whole life—until a crushing betrayal left him desperate to flee the public eye. Yet long-dormant passions awaken within him after a powerful storm strands a beautiful, strong-willed woman on his isolated farm. When a Fae prince bent on ruling both human and faery realms threatens Caris’s life, Liam must decide if he can finally believe in love again, not just for her sake—but for the sake of two worlds.

* * * * *

LEGEND ∙ LORE ∙ LOVE ∙ MAGIC

The fae are cunning, powerful and often cruel. The most beautiful among them are often the most deadly. Hidden far beneath the mortal world, the timeless faery realm plays by its own rules—and those rules can change on a whim.

Now and again, the unpredictable residents of that mystical land cross the supernatural threshold…

In this enchanting romance series from Dani Harper, the ancient fae come face-to-face with modern-day humans and discover something far more potent than their strongest magic: love.

THE GRIM SERIES BY DANI HARPER

Available in paperback, Kindle ebook and Audiobook

You can check out and purchase ANY of Dani’s books on her Amazon Author Page: 

https://www.amazon.com/Dani-Harper/e/B004FD8RV2

Breathing New Life into Old Books

As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m in the process of re-releasing quite a few of my books that, for one reason or another, had been removed from their original publishers. I released two of them this month, Iron and Oak. The covers are new, of course, and Oak is the new title for what was once The Oak King; I may have done a little editing, but other than that, not much has changed.  They’re still two of the Books of my Heart, stories that, for one reason or another, demanded to be written. And I couldn't be happier to have them both back out in the world. 

Although they're not really connected to each other in any way--other than both being paranormal/fantasy romances set in nineteenth century Ireland--I’ve decided to release Iron and Oak as part of my new Celtic Legend series. There will be two more books in the series, Selkie (about a wounded seal-shifter who is rescued by a fisherman) and Flight (a bird-shifter menage story featuring two men who had always loved each other and the mysterious woman who almost comes between them).

I'm super excited about all four of these books--and their pretty new covers!

                   

 

Click HERE for a sneak peek at Selkie.  

Nineteenth century Ireland. Blacksmith Gavin O'Malley is a bitter man, with a heart as hard as the iron he forges. He wants his life back--the one that was stolen from him the day his wife died in childbirth--taking their firstborn son with her.

When Aislinn Deirbhile, an immortal, shape-shifting fae, arrives on his doorstep, he knows he's in luck. For Aislinn can give Gavin everything he's been missing: A devoted-seeming wife in the image of his beloved Mairead, and children who are sure to outlive their father. Now, all he has to do is find a way to keep her--without losing his immortal soul in the process.

But Aislinn has an agenda of her own. On the run from a vengeful fae lord who's vowed to either make her his or end her existence, she knows the iron that allows Gavin to take her captive will also keep her pursuers at bay. In order to put herself permanently beyond her enemy's reach, however, Aislinn will need something more. She'll need to win Gavin's heart and convince him to willingly part with a piece of the very soul he's trying to save.

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo

This title was previously published as The Oak King.

Twice each year, Aine Murphy ventures into the woods to hold ceremonies to honor the Oak King and the Holly King, never dreaming these Lords of the Forest could be anything more than myth. When the legends spring to life in front of her, how can she help but fall for the sexy demi-gods she's loved all her life?

From midwinter to midsummer, Fionn O'Dair rules the Greenworld as the Oak King--a role he feels is beyond his abilities, and one that dooms him to a loveless future, forever craving the one man he can never allow himself to have. How can he resist what Aine offers--the sweet devotion that soothes his aching soul, and the slim chance to live a "normal" life as her husband, if only for half a year?

Holly King Kieran Mac Cuilenn never desired a human lover--until now. Seeing Fionn and Aine together fills him with longing for the love he threw away and awakens feelings he thought he'd buried with the last Oak King. Is there enough magic in the solstice to correct the mistakes he made years ago? Or is he doomed to be forever left out in the cold?

Available at Amazon , Barnes & Noble, and Kobo 

May is the Month for Faeries - Beware!

Faery Queen
(Image source: Bigstock.com)

Ancient faery legends are brought to modern-day America in my ongoing Grim Series: Storm Warrior, Storm Bound, Storm Warned, and the upcoming release, Storm Crossed. 

The Fae in these novels are inspired by old stories I heard and read as a child. Between my Welsh gramma and ready access to a entire library of British books, I learned that faeries were not to be trifled with.

FORGET EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT TINKERBELL!

Faery beings come in all sizes and shapes from ethereally beautiful to monstrously frightening. But it’s their unpredictable temperament you have to watch out for – the Fae are easily offended, volatile, amoral, and even violent. 

While occasionally some may be helpful to humans, more often they delight in tormenting them. Their motives can range from child-like mischief (souring milk, knocking down fences, pulling hair) to downright evil (kidnapping, cursing, or even killing mortals). And of course, there's always a few that just like to eat people...

No wonder people have been trying to protect themselves from faeries for the last three thousand years or more!

PLANT PROTECTIONS

Marsh Marigolds
(Image source: Bigstock.com)

Historically, garlands were often made of marsh marigolds and hung over the barn doors to protect the horses from being ridden to exhaustion by fairies in the night. Flowers, especially primroses, were spread over windowsills and hung above the door-posts of the house for safety. Your best bet, however, was a plant called St. John's Wort. Wearing it was said to provide strong protection from fairy magic and mischief.

Fairies could vanish at will and remain invisible to mortal eyes for as long as they pleased. Carrying a four-leafed clover would allow you to see the fairies – but only once. A Celtic tradition was to sew several of the clovers into a tiny bag to be worn around the neck. You could then discern the fairies once for each clover in the bag. In some legends, the clover was said to allow you to see through fairy glamors and magical disguises.

Red berries were believed to keep fairies at bay, especially if they were from rowan trees, mountain ash or holly. So did red verbena (a flower). Daisies were often tucked into children’s pockets or woven into fanciful chains to wear around their necks to prevent them from being taken away by the faeries. And if you were walking through the woods, it was best to carry a walking stick or staff made of ash or rowan wood.

FOOD PROTECTIONS

An offering for the faeries
(Image source: Bigstock.com)

Traditionally, bread and salt provided protection from the Fae. Carrying yeast-risen bread with you had a two-fold effect. It would repel some faeries. Other faeries would accept it as an offering and leave you alone. My gramma taught me a Welsh tradition of leaving a saucer of milk and a slice of bread or some bread crusts on the back porch as an offering to the faeries, so they wouldn’t play pranks on the family or trouble the livestock. Sometimes, if you were seeking the faeries' aid, you might add berries, honey, or cheese.

Salt’s association with purity made it an excellent tool against otherworldly beings. Spreading salt across the threshold and along the windowsills has long been the primary method of keeping faeries, demons, and spirits out of houses.  If you had to carry food to the farmhands in the fields, sprinkling it with salt was said to keep the faeries from taking it – or from extracting the nourishment from it unseen!

Even humble oatmeal was believed to be a fairy repellent. You could carry a handful of dry oatmeal in your pocket or sprinkle it on your clothes. As long as you didn’t mind looking flaky, you’d be safe.

IRON PROTECTION

Iron in any form or shape has always been considered the very best protection against fairies – in almost all legends, the metal is like kryptonite to Superman. If you kept an iron nail in your pocket, you couldn’t be carried away by them. Sometimes iron nails were sewn into the hems of children’s clothing for that reason. A pair of iron shears hung on the wall near a baby’s bed was said to prevent the child from being swapped for an ugly fairy baby.

Iron horseshoes repel faeries
(Image source: Bigstock.com)

Horseshoes could be nailed over doorposts, a precaution that had to be taken to the extreme in my first two Grim books, Storm Warrior and Storm Bound. 

(By the way, some legends specify that the horseshoe should be placed on its side like the letter “C”, resembling the crescent moon, or it won’t repel the Fae!)

Steel is also effective against the faeries because it is created from processed iron. If a faery is cut by a steel or iron blade, the wound will not heal or will take a very long time. In some stories, the Fae is slowly poisoned by such a wound. Steel or iron weapons are among the few things that can actually kill a Fae being. 

However, unless it was plainly self-defense (and sometimes even that wouldn’t help your case), you could expect the rest of the faeries to exact a terrible retribution!

..............................................................

Love Faeries? Check out The Grim Series by Dani Harper

STORM WARRIOR, STORM BOUND, and STORM WARNED

And watch for my upcoming release, STORM CROSSED!

Note: Every book in this series is designed to stand alone. It's more fun to read them in order, but not necessary.

Legend, love, lore, and magic...
See ALL my novels on my Amazon Author Page
or go to my website at http://www.daniharper.com

The Druid Stone by Heidi Belleau & Violetta Vane - Influences and Layers

Hi! I'm Violetta Vane, and my first Carina novel is The Druid Stone, coauthored with Heidi Belleau. I'm excited to start blogging at Here Be Magic.

First things first: we're winding down the blog tour for The Druid Stone on Monday, August 27th. But until then, there are two giveways open. At the Carina Press blog, you can still enter to win a sterling silver triple spiral pendant. At one of my other group blogs, LGBT Fantasy Fans and Authors, you can win a copy of The Druid Stone simply by listing a bisexual immortal (if that sounds hard, don't worry—the post gives plenty of hints!)

For my post, I'd like to talk a bit about influences. We all have inspirational, foundational writers that we look up to. One of mine is C. J. Cherryh, a prolific writer of many science fiction and fantasy novels, series and stories. She has the kind of vivid anthropological imagination that’s so crucial to world-building in both genres. When she writes science fiction, I always get the sense that her aliens are really and truly alien, not just humans with a few forehead wrinkles.  The non-human races in her fantasy books are just as unique and compelling. Some of them she invents out of whole cloth, but she's also written several books inspired by Celtic mythology: The Ealdwood Saga, Faery in Shadow and "The Brothers", a short story that serves as the prequel to Faery in Shadow.

What I love about all these books is that they go back to the roots of Celtic mythology and strip away the Tolkienisms that most fantasy readers are used to. I'm a Tolkien fan myself—I grew up reading him—but there's a limit to how much Tolkien-lite I can handle, and I reached that limit decades ago. Cherryh's Celtic fantasy is told in epic language, but it's clean and spare, not pompous. The supernatural inhabitants of this world are what the ancient myths would be like if they were made flesh. They are not simply a sexier version of modern humans. They have godlike, animal and human qualities in unpredictable measure, and their motives are often left a complete mystery.

Of all these books, Faery in Shadow and “The Brothers” are my favorites, because of the tight plots and because of the relationship between Caith mac Sliabhin and Dubhain. Caith was fostered by outlaws but is the son of a chieftain, and Dubhain is a pooka, a shapeshifting water horse, though he most often takes the form of a dark-haired young man.  They’re thrown together by the machinations of Dubhain’s faery overlord, Nuallan. If you think this set-up is perfect for romance, you’d be right, and there’s a massive amount of homoerotic tension between Caith and Dubhain. Dubhain, being essentially inhuman, often torments Caith with a smile, but is forced to obey him and frequently says he loves him. Caith is a seriously depressed dude and full of anger towards the magical world. He hates having Dubhain’s service forced on him, but he also relies on him heavily. Despite the strong tension and some tender moments between the two, there’s no romance or sex at all in these books. The overall tone is incredibly dark and grim. In fact, they’re as close to true faery noir as I’ve ever read, and the dark side of humanity is shown just as much as the dark side of the supernatural.

The setting is pre-Christian Scottish highlands. There’s no attempt at location in a timeline, and I can’t judge the historical accuracy, but the feeling of this world is amazingly genuine. The descriptions have a timeless, mythic weight, balanced perfectly with concrete sensory details. I felt Caith’s frustration as he travels over the difficult terrain, and the landscapes of this book are absolutely gorgeous.  I received a strong sense of a misty, watery world, visions of dark green over grey stone—a cold wind from a cold sea.

Many things about this book influenced my own writing. A little bit of the tension between Caith and Dubhain—the way that it involves antagonism and power play, certainly—transferred over to Sean and Cormac’s early relationship.  Finnbheara owes a lot to Nuallan, both in his morality and in his role in the narrative, although we gave our own sidhe lord much more of a twisted sense of humor.  The overall back-to-the-basics approach to Celtic fantasy also structured my approach to world-building in The Druid Stone.  Heidi had exactly the same philosophy, although in her case it was more informed by her extensive college studies in Celtic history. We researched the hell out of everything supernatural we put in there, and we weren’t satisfied unless we knew it came from primary sources.  Lastly, the mystery and suspense are incredibly powerful in Faery in Shadow. The obscure motivations of many of the key players result in true conflict, nothing like the sort of easily predictable stuff you’ll find in books of any genre that use suspense as a sort of last-minute seasoning instead of an integral part of the plot. We knew we wanted to tell a tight, exciting story with some dangerous twists and turns; we worked on that goal from the very beginning and saw it through to the end.

The Druid Stone is a very layered book. Layers of history are, themselves, a major theme of the book. There are lighter, irreverent, thoroughly modern layers on the surface, and many layers of romance as well, but the deepest, darkest, most ancient layer—the world of the mounds that reaches out to menace our lovers—is very much influenced by the story of Caith mac Sliabhin, kinslayer and cursed hero.

~~~

Sean never asked to be an O'Hara, and he didn't ask to be cursed by one either.

After inheriting a hexed druid stone from his great-grandfather, Sean starts reliving another man's torture and death...every single night. And only one person can help.

Cormac Kelly runs a paranormal investigation business and doesn't have time to deal with misinformed tourists like Sean. But Sean has real magic in his pocket, and even though Cormac is a descendant of legendary druids, he soon finds himself out of his depth...and not because Sean's the first man he's felt anything for in a long time.

The pair develop an unexpected and intensely sexual bond, but are threatened at every turn when Sean's case attracts the unwelcome attention of the mad sidhe lords of ancient Ireland. When Sean and Cormac are thrust backward in time to Ireland's violent history—and their own dark pasts—they must work together to escape the curse and save their fragile relationship.

Find it at Carina, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.

Combining Paranormal and Erotic Romance

Paranormal and erotic romance seems a natural combination because paranormal world-building comes from the author’s active, over-the-top imagination. There are some wild and far-out things that happen in paranormal stories—characters who shift into animals, characters who disappear, immortal characters, etc. So it makes sense that extremely sensual and highly erotic situations can easily be combined with this and it’s all believable… if the author is good at making you suspend disbelief. Plus, it can make the story more intense and spellbinding.

An erotic fantasy becomes even more of an escape when one (or more) of the hot, sexy characters isn't quite human. They’re larger than life. Maybe the hero is immortal and has lived for hundreds of years. He will no doubt have a lot of experience and know exactly what he wants between the sheets. Maybe he has special powers or abilities. A werewolf, vampire or other paranormal creature introduces danger into the equation. Danger can heighten the sensuality and passion, making it explosive.

Dangerous heroes are strangely compelling. The unknown. Is he dangerous to everyone, including the heroine, or only to his enemies? Part of the thrill is not knowing if he will become too enthusiastic in his passion and hurt the heroine.

Duncan, the hero of my Carina press book, Laird of Darkness, is half-Fae. This means he can disappear whenever he wants and fly through the air, no wings needed. When he vanishes, he also has enhanced strength. He can toss men or heavy rocks through the air. His own body is the only weapon he needs.

Though the heroine, Alana, is unsure at first how much of a threat he is, she is drawn to him. Should she want him as a lover despite his dangerous paranormal abilities?

Excerpt from Laird of Darkness

Lady Alana Forbes knelt by Loch Searbh, overjoyed to have found such a large clump of marsh tea. She would dry it and use it to heal many skin afflictions. A dull roar reached her ears. Thunder? No storm clouds lurked overhead. The loch at twilight, surrounded by the rugged Highlands, was one of the most beautiful sights she had seen. A pink and violet sunset painted the sky to the west, the direction she would journey tomorrow to meet her future husband at Castle Claren.

She hoped Kinnon MacClaren was a handsome and kind man. And though she would never admit it to anyone but herself, she hoped he was a generous lover and skilled in the bedchamber. If the rumors about him were correct, the MacClaren chief was indeed handsome, with blue eyes and tawny hair.

Rising, she sniffed the balsamic aroma of the herb. Above all, her new husband must allow her to continue practicing the medicinal arts her beloved grandmother taught her. Gran had passed three years ago, and Alana was the only one to preserve her family’s herbal knowledge and ancient Soillse Eòlas Leigheashealing spells.

She took one step toward her party’s camp when a fierce clamor exploded from the loch. She froze. Water gushed upward and a herd of white horses burst forth, headed straight toward her. What in Hades?

Something unseen slipped around her waist, snatching her into the air far above the ground. Strangely, the invisible band around her felt like a man’s strong arm. St. Bride preserve me! Nausea roiled through her. She screamed, flailing, cold chills covering her body. Far below, the white horses galloped along the shore and disappeared beyond the bend. Alana knew a bit about magic, but sorcery such as this she had never encountered.

A few hundred feet from the water and her party, she floated down until she rested once again on solid ground.

“How… Who…”

Whatever peculiar force had lifted her out of harm’s way now released her. She perceived naught but a dull red spot glowing in the dimness. A body expanded from it—a man’s muscular chest and dark head.

“What in…” She covered her gaping mouth. What kind of enchantment could this be?

He turned, moving away toward the bushes, then his muscled back, hip and the rest of his nude body materialized. Sideways, he bent to grab a long piece of woolen tartan from the ground. When he straightened, the whole of his spectacular front was visible for a moment. Alana’s breath fled and heat burned over her. She had never seen such an enticing, yet forbidden sight. The flat rippled plain of his chest and stomach led down to a narrow, dark trail of hair that pointed toward fascinating masculine parts betwixt his legs. Quickly, he draped the plaid over his shoulder, and it hung to his knees in front.

His straight, jet-black hair brushed his broad shoulders. Eyes, dark as a midnight sky, stared a hole through her, though she was certain he couldn’t see her face beneath the cloak and deep cowl over her head. The men of her family had ever overreacted and made her travel concealed in this manner, to ward off those who would see her beauty and take her hostage, they claimed.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Duncan MacDougall. And who are you?” His deep voice held a stronger, more northern Highland accent than she herself possessed. She found his tongue-rolling burr captivating and wished to hear more of it.

“Alana.” She would not reveal her clan name and position for her own safety. “You saved my life.” What a daft thing to say. She hoped he couldn’t see her blush.

“Aye.” A hint of a grin gave his rugged face a boyish charm. He was perhaps the most handsome man she had ever beheld, with his high cheekbones, wide sensual mouth and square jaw.

“I’m grateful to you.”

He bowed.

The plaid draped from his shoulder, covering the left half of his chest and the manly parts between his legs. His right thigh was visible as was his hip. How strangely exciting to see parts of a man such as were usually concealed. She yearned to see more.

His muscled arms and massive shoulders attested to his warrior training. But her mind kept drifting back to his groin. Well-endowed was how she would describe him, nothing like the stable lad she had called lover a few years ago. That was the secret she must never allow Kinnon MacClaren to learn. He must think her a virgin.

“How did you carry me through the air? What kind of creature are you?” she asked the sinister stranger.

He smirked. “’Tis a secret.”

Duncan MacDougall possessed a fearsome magic. Clearly. How else would such a feat be possible? She was skilled in the mystical healing arts, but she’d never before known of a person who could do something so remarkable as vanish or fly.

“Why did those white horses stampede from the loch?” she asked.

“They are kelpies, water demons who emerge at night.”

“So they do exist,” she mused. She’d heard tales of kelpies all her life, but she’d thought they were simply legends.

She forced her gaze away from Duncan’s appealing form and down to her hands, where she still held the precious herb she’d risked her life for. Her stranglehold had crushed some of the leaves and their strong aroma filled the air. “Again, I thank you for saving my life. How will I repay you?”

“No repayment necessary.” His deep murmur threatened to seduce her.

Alana dared not look at him again. She feared he was casting a spell upon her with his wicked eyes and sensual voice. Kinnon MacClaren was the man she would marry, though she didn’t know if he was as striking and tempting as this man.

A short distance to the south, the voices of her maids echoed as they shouted her name.

“Will you return me to my party now? They grow worried.”

“Where are you headed?”

Unable to resist, she drank in the sight of his pleasing face again. “Castle Claren,” she said.

“Castle Claren? Why?” he demanded. Duncan’s arrow-sharp tone startled her. Something was amiss. She had revealed dangerous information. “Maids.” Alana swallowed hard. “The chief has hired us as his new maids.” Her palms sweated. She clenched her right hand, only now realizing she’d dropped her dagger.

He frowned, his expression becoming harsh. “Remove your cowl, lass.”

Nay. She had to escape him. Turning her head, she slid a glance toward her party. Could she flee to them before he grabbed her? When she faced Duncan again, he stood beside her, close enough to touch.

He grasped her shoulder and yanked the cowl from her head, pulling her hair.

“Ow! Unhand me!”

His sinister gaze speared hers, his face inches from her own. His jaw tightened, and before he could conceal it, lust, greed and—could it be?—dismay played over his features. He was like all other men, then, wanting what he could never have. Quickly, he blanked his expression and pushed the front of her cloak back to reveal her fine clothing.

“I knew you were a noblewoman. No need to hide the truth. Now, tell me, Lady Alana, what business have you with the MacClaren?” He spoke low and close to her ear, his hot breath sending icy chills through her body. His tight hold made her heart beat fast as a bird’s wings.

She yanked backward, but his grip proved unbreakable. “I am to wed Laird Kinnon MacClaren,” she said through clenched teeth. “And if you do not release me, he will seek retribution.”

Duncan’s eyes narrowed. “Is that so?”

“Aye.” She could talk her way out of this thorny situation. ’Twould not be the first time. And though this knave seemed a bit dangerous, he did not have an evil air about him.

“Why did MacClaren not fetch you himself?”

“I know not. He sent his men. Do you know him?”

“Indeed.”

She wanted to ask what MacClaren was like, but doubted Duncan would tell her the truth. “Allow me to return to my party now.” She drew in a breath, and for the first time, detected his scent above the medicinal aroma of the plant in her hand. Warm, spicy and masculine—a tantalizing fragrance she’d never smelled the likes of before and which spoke to an instinct deep within her. Like when someone who had not eaten in a fortnight smelled freshly baked bread covered in butter and honey. Without logic, she wished to bury her nose against his neck, inhale deeply and taste him.

Was she daft? He was a stranger, and a violent one at that.

“I cannot do that,” he murmured in a voice that blended with the night, dusky and deep.

Laird of Darkness copyright 2011 Nicole North. Published by Carina Press.

Thanks for checking out my post and excerpt!

Nicole

www.nicolenorth.com

The Unseen World

Last weekend at World Fantasy Convention 2011 in San Diego, I attended a panel on "The Not-So-Fair Folk," in which the dark side of fae folklore was explored. The importance of keeping mum about the fae was mentioned more than once, making the panel itself feel just a bit dangerous, as if talking about it just might land us all in trouble.

Like the fae themselves, the darker tales are often hidden among the seeming light. In Disney's Sleeping Beauty, the fairies are portrayed as benign and somewhat daft—except for Maleficent, who appears uninvited at the christening of newborn Princess Aurora to "gift" her with a curse after being denied the proper respect. As a child, I was always much more interested in Maleficent than anyone else in the story. Why was she so different? Why didn't they invite her? What was her history?

Another favorite of mine was the Snow Queen. She swept in with the north wind and stole away pretty boys to keep for herself. I was instantly intrigued.

When I was a little older, I discovered the White Witch in C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and recognized her as the same figure, as she turned the world to eternal winter and brought Edmund under her thrall from her sparkling sleigh. And then again in The Silver Chair, the Lady of the Green Kirtle came along and stole away and enchanted Prince Rilian of Narnia.

These mysterious, powerful women are all nods to the Queen of the Fae, who was prone to stealing human children and replacing them with changelings, or captivating the hearts of mortal men who followed her into the unseen kingdom of the fairies. The fear of a powerful woman seems to infuse men's psyches in the oldest of folklore of many traditions. From sirens and mermaids to veela and rusalki, all of them lure men to their hidden realms. (Which I guess pretty much speaks for itself.)

As much as I love my protagonists, I can never quite resist a strong and dangerous woman. When I started my current series, The House of Arkhangel'sk, I had no intention of writing about dark fae. It's a story about angels and demons, and the Russian imperial family. But somehow as I was developing the villainess of the story, I ended up with none other than the Fairy Queen herself. She was the perfect enchantress to lead my fallen angel astray.



I took some liberties, of course. My Fairy Queen comes from a Celtic tradition (the same that inspired C.S. Lewis—the ballad of Tam Lin; as well as Irish poet Brian Merriman's The Midnight Court), but I moved her to the icy Russian north and gave her the qualities of a Slavic veela. Her origins, however, are something I haven't explained. Queen Aeval remains a bit of a mystery. Somehow, it didn't seem appropriate to talk about where she came from. Maybe subconsciously, I, too, was afraid to delve too deeply into her realm, or at least to speak of it. You never know what she might do.

If you dare to speak of the unseen, feel free to leave me a comment about your favorite fae. I'll give away a signed ARC of Book One of The House of Arkhangel'sk, The Fallen Queen, to a commenter chosen at random.

Jane Kindred

www.janekindred.com