An unhappy shape shifter can be a dangerous companion....
It's Frisky Friday, and for A Writer's Naughty Thoughts, Fridays are also anything can happen days.
My excerpt for this week is from my 2nd book, Deadly Enchantment. A shapeshifting wizard romance set in Victorian England published by New Concepts Publishing,
In this snippet, which occurs at the beginning of the third chapter, Dominic Westcroft has reason to suspect Serena Blanford, one of the guests his sister has invited for him to consider as a potential bride, possesses magical abilities she's trying to keep hidden. Believing she may actually be a plant placed in his home by his treacherous brother, he decides to give her a purity validation test.
Serena has no idea what this "test" actually entails, but given the reaction of the other women who went through it, she knew it wasn't anything she wanted to experience. Up until this point, she has successfully managed to keep both her and her cousin safe from having to undergo the ordeal, but now Westcroft is adamant they both submit to the procedure. When Serena declines, he advises his servant that she will be leaving first thing in the morning. Knowing if she's sent away that she'll never be able to solve the mystery surrounding her sister's death, Serena agrees to do what Westcroft wants. However, when they approach the room where the testing is taking place, Serena hears her cousin crying and rushes in to comfort her.
Serena has no idea what this "test" actually entails, but given the reaction of the other women who went through it, she knew it wasn't anything she wanted to experience. Up until this point, she has successfully managed to keep both her and her cousin safe from having to undergo the ordeal, but now Westcroft is adamant they both submit to the procedure. When Serena declines, he advises his servant that she will be leaving first thing in the morning. Knowing if she's sent away that she'll never be able to solve the mystery surrounding her sister's death, Serena agrees to do what Westcroft wants. However, when they approach the room where the testing is taking place, Serena hears her cousin crying and rushes in to comfort her.
Holding Allison in her arms, Serena
glared at Westcroft.
“I thought
you said the validation process wasn’t painful,” she snapped as Allison
clutched at Serena’s arms as if she feared letting go.
“It was
terrible,” Allison confessed with a watery sob as she pointed to a man standing
in the corner. A man Serena hadn’t seen
before. “He forced me to drink
this foul concoction, and then he thrust his hand beneath my skirts and pressed
his fingers into me.”
The man in
question stepped forward. “It was one
finger,” he contradicted firmly, “and I didn’t hurt you.”
Allison
sniffed and regarded him with accusing blue eyes. “Yes, you did.”
He appeared
a little nonplussed for a moment, then with a short bow he apologized and
stepped toward the door. As he passed
Dominic, he murmured in a low voice, “Brother-in-law or not, nothing is worth
this.”
Despite the small setback, Dominic Westcroft is determined to uncover his young guest's secrets even if it means "testing" her himself.
M/F, Shape shifting wizards in Victorian England.
Read the first three chapters at: Deadly Enchantment
Available at NCP, Amazon, Barnes & Noble or ARe
Thanks for visiting. I hope you enjoyed this brief excerpt and wish you and yours a very Frisky Friday.
Love the tension in this snippet Kathryn :)
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Roz