Welcome to another Wylder Tales teaser, friends! It’s been a month since I published Craving Beauty and between work and kids, it’s been a struggle to work on Scarred Beauty. Thankfully, this ain’t my first rodeo. 😉 I catch moments when I can chip away at my current draft of Scarred Beauty. That’s the key to writing a book. You write every day, a lot some days and a little other days. But if you’re consistent and persistent, and more than a little bullheaded, you’ll get there.
In other news, the hardcover copy of Craving Beauty is now officially live! For those of you who have been waiting to add CB to your bookshelves, here’s where you can grab your copy. So what’s next? This coming month, I’m partnering up with my lovely folks at Lone Star Literary Life for an informal review tour. And for a limited time, I’m offering ebook copies of Craving Beauty for $0.99! Yep, you heard that right folks. I’m participating in a Robin Reads promo soon, but I wanted to give y’all a jump start, for anyone who’s wallets have been as tight as mine. Happy reading, friends!
For now, if you don’t mind a few spoilers… enjoy your sneak peek into Scarred Beauty…
In a forgotten village in Wylderland…
Her first clear memory was of Ceddrych’s smiling golden face as he helped her cross the yard to Mother’s rose garden. A time when the land was in bloom and the world shone in her child’s gaze with an effervescent glow. Vynasha had seen magick in everything when she was still small, before Wynyth’s passing the following winter.
“Watch over my little starling,” Mother had whispered with her dying breath.
Ceddrych had only drawn Vynasha closer and sworn, “With my life.”
In the days since she woke in her brother’s cottage, Vynasha spoke little of what happened in the castle, too lost in memories and guilt. Had she been so willfully blind she could not see the truth of the matter? She had lived in a luxury she had never known before, but it had been a prison nonetheless. Ferox had trapped her with empty promises, and Grendel bound her against her will.
Why did I not try harder to escape?
Now her faithful horse, Dragos was trapped in a city of beasts, and her nephew lost somewhere in the Wylder Mountains. Vynasha nearly spoke of Wyll countless times since waking, yet the walls of Ceddrych’s home were far too thin. And they were surrounded by wylderfolk all too keen and mistrustful of her to loosen her tongue.
Ceddrych didn’t seem to mind, content to fill her silences with nonsense and tales of times long ago. Vynasha abandoned all attempts to speak and found herself watching the man her brother had become instead.
“Hold this here for me?”
Vynasha dutifully held down the corner of hide Ceddrych was stripping of fur and fat beside the crackling fire.
His smile was her reward as he continued, “Do you know the folk within the Eirwen Mountains all believe the Snow Queen truly lived?”
Vynasha smiled back at the small thrill this thought gave her. Tales of the lost princess, driven into hiding by her wicked stepmother, only to return home with an army to reclaim her kingdom had been her favorite. When she wasn’t begging her brother to tell the story once more, she’d been forcing Ceddrych to play with her in the forest beyond their home.
Knowing this, Ceddrych waited until she prodded on with the inevitable question. “Truly?”
“Well,” he hedged, “to hear them tell, the ruins of her castle can be found between snowy peaks called the Three Sisters. Named after the queen and the sisters she lost on her path to reclaim her rightful throne. It happened like this…”
Vynasha was slow to regain her strength and required Ceddrych’s help to cross the limited space within his cottage. “I’m no better than a yearling,” she grumbled as they made the slow circle around the central hearth.
Ceddrych’s laugh was low and his arm warm beneath her hand. “You’re still doing better than the summer I sat on that hornet’s nest.”
“Oh, Saints, I nearly forgot about that!” Vynasha snorted and her knee knocked against his as she tugged on his arm. “You refused to come out of the cave until I returned with Mother’s poultice to soothe the sting. Cried like a babe the whole time, too.”
“Have you no heart, Asha? Hornet stings are excruciating and I’d been stung no less than twenty times.” Ceddrych’s eyes danced and his laughter grew as she fell to snorts and giggles.
But Vynasha quietly wondered over the shadow hidden behind his familiar gaze. Best to ignore it for now. Better to steal every sliver of happiness she found.
“I won’t be too long,” he promised in the hours before dawn. It was the tenth morning since she’d woken in Ceddrych’s cottage. A chill permeated the room and a faint layer of frost coated the walls. The bed was plenty warm from their combined heat, however.
Vynasha shouldn’t take advantage of Ceddrych’s kindness like this. He had always been softer toward her than the others.
His true sisters, a nasty voice in her head reminded.
She should give him back his bed and take to the furs he had kept spread beside the hearth. But after that first awful night she had become addicted to the dreamlessness of his embrace. And the way she woke each day to his bewildered smile.
“I’ve had good luck the last few mornings, no doubt thanks to your presence,” Ceddrych teased as he slung his bow over his shoulder. He did not need these tools to hunt, she suspected, but when asked, her brother had replied, “I spent too long as a wolf. Now I need to remember how to live as a man.”
Vynasha dug her claws into her palms as she straightened and declared, “I’m going with you today.”
Ceddrych froze in his preparations and twisted his head. His eyes flashed gold and green and the scent of magick thickened between them. “It’s too dangerous.”
His gaze fell to her legs as she pushed off the covers and stood.
“I’m strong enough to keep up. Wait and see.” She lifted her chin and willed him to see her need to breathe. She wasn’t sure she could stand another day trapped inside. “Am I not safer with you than alone, anyway?”
to be continued…
want to dive deeper into the world of wylder tales?
Jennifer Silverwood 
Beautiful art and story.
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