I can’t believe we’re a week away from the release of Bound Beauty, friends! It’s been a long journey for me, especially. Writing this series has been both a source of madness and a labor of love. I wasn’t sure exactly where the path would take me. I certainly wasn’t expecting to come to the point where I knew we needed a fourth book in this series. With any luck, Book 4 will prove to be far kinder to me.
So what’s the latest? My interior designer team and I have been going back and forth still to get everything perfect for release day. We’re almost there, and my designer is an angel for putting up with me, seriously. Meanwhile, I realized I needed to set up pre-orders for the next book, alongside Annwyn Park (Borderlands Saga BK4). I’ve been a busy bee, but I still love the madness that comes with this business. If I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t be publishing still, fourteen years later. 🙂 But enough of my rambling…
Want to keep reading a free snippet of Bound Beauty? Scroll below, and happy reading friends!
IN A CASTLE IN WYLDERLAND…
“I thought perchance you would like to go for a walk today.”
Vynasha held her breath. “This coming from the prince who wouldn’t let me walk across my room alone?” She followed the stitched pattern of silver leaves on her new dress and purposely brushed against his hand.
He stilled beneath her touch, and his piercing stare heated with the echo of desire once again. “It has been three days.”
She leaned into his touch and savored the rush of his power coursing through their bond. Not too much, just enough to feed her starving body of the magick it craved. “Meaning you believe I’m strong enough?”
Grendel looked away and began to lay out the layers over her bed. “Meaning I will be here to catch you if you should fall.”
Vynasha swallowed the lump in her throat and pressed her clawed fingertips against the dress. “All right, then. Give me a moment to get dressed and I’ll come with you.” When he made no move to leave, she leveled a glare at him. “What?”
Grendel arched a challenging eyebrow. “You will need help.”
Vynasha growled. “If you believe I’ll let you dress me like a doll, you have another thing coming, prince.”
Grendel shrugged, the very portrait of nonchalance. “Suppose you would rather remain here, then, darling? We can just as easily go through your exercises if you like.”
Vynasha dug her claws into her palm. “Help me with the bloody leggings first.”
Grendel bowed his head, his black hair falling over his eyes before she could catch his expression. But he made no comment as she stretched her left leg forward then the right. Gooseflesh broke out beneath the brush of his fingers against her bare skin as he rolled her woolen stocking down. She bit her lower lip in a vain effort to fight her reaction.
You’re in control of this, remember.
He replaced her wool leggings with softer, finer material, thicker than linen, supple as silk. The new boots followed, molding to her calves like a second skin. Grendel shared her smile as she kicked out her feet to better admire Myrel and Lyttia’s craftsmanship.
When he picked up her new shift, Vynasha pushed up from her chair before she had time to think. Her fingers barely fumbled as she lifted the nightgown above her thighs. She struggled to pull the gown over her head and cursed.
Grendel released a breathless laugh as he helped pull the rest free. A shadow of a smile lingered behind his eyes as he glanced once then twice, briefly from her bared shoulders to her toes, clad only in her smallclothes. She held up her hands for him as he replaced her old gown with clean fabric. His violet gaze burned as he pulled the shift over her head, then freed her curls, brushing her tresses behind her ears, lingering at her cheek.
“Why have your servants been making and giving me presents?” Vynasha blurted, unable to take the silence any longer.
Grendel blinked rapidly, as if her voice had broken whatever spell he had been under. He turned back to the bed and began to help her with the dress, mumbling curses under his breath. “Meddlesome fools should mind their own affairs.”
“I could have asked Odym, but I’m asking you.” Vynasha held her hair over her shoulder as he tied her laces. “We are allies, aren’t we?”
He batted her hands aside and, to her surprise, began to slowly, gently braid her curls. “You have not had any more pain from the demon’s mark today?”
Vynasha willed her legs to remain strong as her resolve as she lied, “Not since our bargain.” He had yet to call her out on this, and so she would continue to test him for now. She bit her lip briefly, then attempted a lighter tone. “You never gave terms, now that I think of it.”
Grendel chuckled low, his fingers catching briefly in one of many snags. Again, he took the time to carefully comb through. “Are you so willing to treat with me?”
Vynasha closed her eyes at the unwelcome pleasure of his hands in her hair. Where had he learned this? “I know better than to assume anything with your kind.”
He paused, eerily silent behind her for a moment, before tying her hair off with a ribbon that matched her dress. “You know I will deny you nothing, is that not enough, darling?”
Vynasha was careful to position her feet firmly as she rounded to face him. “For now,” she replied, and extended her hands for him to take. “You are lucky you came before I could sneak away on my own.”
Grendel scoffed and lifted her with ease, placing one arm around her waist. “Precisely why I am escorting you. The last thing we need is for you to fall and injure yourself.” He hesitated before the door, his concern palpable between them. “Are you certain? We can try again tomorrow.”
Vynasha leaned on the prince and shook her head. “I can’t stand being cooped up in that room any longer.”
Grendel offered a soft smile in return. “I would also prefer you did not dump any more of your meals on me.”
“No promises, prince.” Vynasha replied and felt his satisfaction through their bond as he opened the door, and they entered the servants’ hall beyond.
to be continued…
Forgotten gods haunt her steps, and the cursed prince she left behind isn’t done fighting for her soul.
A war is about to begin between the forgotten people of Wylderland and the cruel might of Bitterhelm. Beings of prophecy and legend unite in the epic third chapter of the Wylder Tales Series, a romantic gothic re-telling of Beauty and the Beast.
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