I really, really, love the world I created in The Eden Series, but when I first set about releasing it into the big, wide world, categorizing was a huge challenge. Cramming it into the paranormal bucket felt wrong. Yes, the happenings are “not of this Earth,” and the Myren race has some killer powers any human would envy, but lumping them in with shapeshifters, vampires, and witches seemed to set the wrong tone.
So, I went to my writer pals and asked for help. They pointed me in the direction of Fantasy and, sure enough, it got me closer. After all, Eryx (the hero from book one, Unexpected Eden) is a king and has a castle, and Eden has no electricity. (When you can generate your own lightning bolt, who needs it?)
The only problem with a Fantasy tag was that everyone automatically assumed The Eden Series was based in the past…and that’s all wrong. As a matter of fact, Myrens travel back and forth between Eden and Evad (what they call the human realm) all the time, and many make their living through trade with us—you just wouldn’t know it. Not with one of their most sacred tenants requiring they keep their existence secret.
Sure there are older Myrens who’ve been around five-hundred years or so who lean toward more formal speech, but the younger generation—those like Eryx, Reese, Ramsay, and Ludan who are more like one-hundred and fifty and spend ample time in our realm—can swing human slang around to match their alpha swagger.
So where I ended up is Contemporary Fantasy—a contemporary world with a fantasy setting. Think Thor but minus the cape and an even bigger bad ass attitude. For me that’s the best of both worlds.
I hope you’ll pick up a copy of Healing Eden and its predecessor, Unexpected Eden. After all, everyone deserves a trip to paradise.
Healing Eden
The Eden Series
Book Two
Rhenna Morgan
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy/Paranormal
Publisher: Kensington/Lyrical Press
Date of Publication: 12/8/2015
ISBN: Ebook 978-1-61650-989-7 /
ISBN: Print 978-1-61650-990-3
ASIN: B00URQETZE
Number of pages: 233
Word Count: 88,373
Cover Artist: Fiona Jayde
Book Description:
In a world divided by war, falling in love is the ultimate betrayal.
Galena Shantos has never questioned her loyalty to Eden. As sister to the Myren king, she serves as a healer, one of the best in the army fighting to suppress the brutal Lomos Rebellion. She’s never doubted the importance of stopping the rebels bent on enslaving humans, until she spots a warrior across enemy lines—and knows instinctively that their destinies are entwined. . .
Rebellion warrior Reese Theron has nothing left to lose. He’s been forced to fight on the wrong side of a war he abhors in order to protect his family secret. His honor lost, as well as the trust of his own people, Reese has thrown himself into a battle he cannot possibly hope to survive. But after being rescued by a beautiful woman whose exquisite eyes seem to see him for more than the traitor he’s become—he may have just found a new reason to live. . .
Excerpt:
Chapter
1
A
lightning bolt sheared past Reese into the smoke-filled night sky and left an
acrid stench in its wake. Streaks of fire and blue-white fingers of electricity
flared so bright he could barely focus. He wasn’t getting out of this. Not this
battle, or this life, with any modicum of honor.
Darting
through the air, he dodged another electrical strike.
An
elite flashed into view and swung wide, his bloodied dagger aimed at Reese’s
gut.
Reese
barrel-rolled up and over his attacker, wrapped him in a chokehold, and masked
their presence from the rest of the fighters. Praise the Great One, he should
be fighting beside this warrior, not against him.
The
warrior flailed and tried to break free, the lack of footing giving him zero
leverage. He slumped, unconscious, into Reese’s ready hold seconds later.
He
lowered them both to the tree line at the battle’s edge, out of site from the
rebels. The man couldn’t be more than twenty years outside his awakening.
Probably barely into his elite torc and cuffs. Beneath Reese’s fingers, the
man’s pulse thrummed slow, but steady. At least this innocent’s death wouldn’t
be on his conscience.
A
twenty-five-foot wall of flame exploded across the open field and rattled the
air and earth around them. The bright flare faded under heavy night, and more
rebellion warriors thunked to the mottled field.
The
sharp rustle of leaves against the forest floor sounded down the tree line, one
quick shift and then silence.
Reese
backed deeper into the foliage and strengthened the mask that kept him hidden.
It couldn’t be a rebellion man. All those were engaged against the malran’s
warriors. Focusing his thoughts, he sought the soulless black thread that
represented the link he’d grudgingly created with Maxis Steysis, and traced his
location.
No,
not the rebellion leader either. His energy showed more than ten miles to the
east, well away from the fight. Reese levitated off the forest floor and
floated through the trees. Gnarled and leafless branches scraped his cheek and
shoulders. Darkness enveloped him, broken only by the bright attacks where the
forest opened to the battle beyond.
There.
Not five feet from the tree line, a figure knelt facing the battle.
He
drifted closer. The sweet, damp scent of soil and decomposing leaves
overpowered the metallic residue of electrical strikes floating on the wind.
Grunts, shouts, and the too-frequent thuds of perished men sounded in a
haphazard pattern.
A
flash spotlighted long, auburn hair. A woman. Bowed over a body, she cradled a
fallen companion’s head in her lap.
Reese
angled to better see her and nearly faltered in holding his mask. His heart
kicked in an awkward rhythm and reality faded to nothingness. Galena Shantos,
sister to the malran. The last person he wanted to witness his disgrace.
Seventy
years since he’d seen her this close. Her elegant features were still as
staggering as the days when he’d trained to serve the malran, but there was
more to her now. A confidence in the way she protected her charge and watched
the battle. Knowledge behind her tropical blue-green eyes that spoke of
experience and age.
And
he fought alongside the men who battled her brother.
Galena
flinched at another blast and hugged the limp body she cradled tight. As the
light dimmed, she uncurled from her burden.
Another
woman, her long blond hair stark against Galena’s black tunic and leggings, and
her sightless eyes aimed at the heavens.
No.
Surely not. Reese crept closer, pressure building at his temples. The zings and
thunder of battle rumbled louder, and his gut clenched.
Phybe.
She’d been alive when Reese left her, tucked away in a zeolite mine where Maxis
couldn’t trace her link. He touched down in the thick carpet of leaves at
Galena’s right and dropped his mask. “I failed her.”
Galena
jerked and reached for something beneath one leg. “Who are you?”
Smudges
marked Phybe’s ashen face, her blue gown torn and satin slippers stained.
Somehow Maxis had found her and finished the job he’d sent Reese to do. “He’ll
kill me for trying to save her.”
More
strikes burst through the thick residual smoke, the malran’s fighters airborne
and casting one attack after another. Fewer than twenty rebellion men still
lived, half retreating north.
“A
cause that fights without honor isn’t worth fighting, is it?” he said.
Galena
straightened and squared her shoulders. “I’d have a hard time counting on honor
from any man who fights with Maxis.”
“You’re
right. I gave that up the moment I agreed to his schemes.” He crouched beside
them.
Galena
tensed and tightened her grip on whatever she hid beneath her leg.
Reese
palmed Phybe’s forehead, cool and lifeless. May your journey be swift and
your spirit find peace with The Great One. The same Myren prayer he’d
offered his mother when she’d drawn her last breath. He stepped back. Maybe it
was time to find his own peace. On his own terms. “You don’t remember me do
you?”
She
shook her head. A terse, barely-there jerk as she eased from beneath her dead
charge, crouched on the balls of her feet and coiled for escape.
“My
name is Reese Theron.”
She
froze, flashes of light from the battle winking off the edge of her blade. She
assessed him head to toe, no spark of recognition.
Maybe
if he’d been braver all those years ago, he’d have had a chance with her. Or
broken his vow and killed Maxis himself when he’d had the chance. He shook the
memories off. He’d taken the wrong path and now it was time to pay. “Call your
guards. Make sure they know you’re in danger.”
A
gunshot rattled the skies and a woman’s blood-curdling scream sounded across
the battlefield.
Galena
lurched to a stand and then stopped, zigzagging her attention between the
shouts along the battlefield and Phybe’s body.
Now
was his chance. Either he took the brave farewell, or he’d die by Maxis’ hands.
“Your face is a good one to remember. Go with The Great One, Galena.” He shot
to the sky and built a violent ball of energy in his palm, sharp tendrils
darting from its center. Drawing back, he aimed the bogus attack at Galena.
Surely The Great One would understand.
An
elite guard spun from across the skies and drew back for counter- attack.
Reese
braced for impact.
A
streak of auburn flashed below him. Galena, spearing through the air, her
trajectory centered between the elite and Reese.
The
energy in his palm fizzled. Not her. Not Galena.
Lightning
fired from the elite’s palm, sheered past Galena’s cheek, and pierced his
shoulder. He jerked and spasmed, locked in place by the force of the strike.
Blue-black spots dotted his vision and his lungs seized.
A
woman’s scream ripped through the air.
Wind
whipped around him, dead weight as he fell, and darkness took
over.
* * * *
Galena
twisted midair and shot toward Reese, wind blurring her eyesight.
His
arms and legs flailed boneless as he hurtled to the earth.
She’d
never make it before impact. Even if he survived the fall, Jagger’s strike had
been a killing shot, off by inches at most.
Reese
crashed against the unforgiving ground, his head and limbs thunking against the
trampled turf.
She
landed seconds behind him. The sticky iron scent of blood, dirt,
and
sweat surrounded her. So many men strewn across the grass, their bodies
contorted in unnatural shapes.
Less
than ten feet away one of her brother’s men struggled for breath, unconscious
with a trail of blood at his temple. A loyal fighter who’d battled against an
indecent and cruel rebellion.
But
it was Reese her palms burned to touch. To feel the beat of his heart. She
dropped to her knees and rolled Reese to his back, muscles surging with wells
of strength she’d never felt.
His
pulse fluttered beneath her fingertips, faint and irregular.
A
thud sounded behind her. Her name registered, a voice she recognized.
She
ignored the call. Shedding her mortal form, she dove into Reese’s unconscious
body and let her spirit spread and assess. Gaping, charred flesh at least two
fists wide, muscle and sinew around it lifeless from the electrical shock. She
followed the damage, too much impairment radiating dangerously close to his
heart. She couldn’t lose him. Traitor or not, her instincts didn’t care. Only
knew this moment would shape the rest of her life in a way she didn’t dare ignore.
Shouts
rang out beside her. Short, brusque words delivered with a frustrated bite.
Footsteps shuffled around her and the injured moaned. Detached in spirit but
still connected to her physical senses, the muffled distractions rattled as she
healed.
Five
inches. That was the gift of her intervention. Had she not flown in the path of
Jagger’s bolt, he’d have pierced Reese’s heart. Blood seeped from the violent
gash and his heart trembled with the aftershocks of the delivering jolt.
Swift
and sure, she spread her spirit, cauterizing and mending the most critical
lesions. A touch here. A brush there.
Near
his heart, a fine opaque mist appeared.
Her
spirit vision faltered. The odd substance settled into every nook and cranny.
It shimmered and sparkled, a mix between morning dew and midnight fog. Seventy
years she’d been healing men and not once had she seen anything like it.
“Damn
it, Lena, we need you.” The admonition rang in her ear and a firm hand clamped
on her shoulder.
Galena
ripped her spirit from Reese’s body and spun in a levitated twist to a
defensive crouch, hands lifted to protect herself. Her vision wavered.
Ramsay
came into focus, the whites around his gray eyes glowing in a way that promised
dire loss of control and a vicious scowl aimed squarely at her. “What in histus
is wrong with you?”
Her
knees nearly buckled. Maybe she’d put too much into her healing. “He’s
wounded.”
“He’s
a traitor. To me and to Eryx.” Glaring at her, he swept his arm behind him.
“What about them?”
There
were dozens of them. Good men, battered, bloody, and fatigued. Most were
upright and lumbering across the battlefield, checking for rebellion survivors.
Six were laid out for triage close to Maxis’ estate, Eryx and Ludan seeing to
their care.
Her
cheeks burned and her stomach pitched. There wasn’t any logic to defend her
actions. She’d acted on pure emotion and instinct, and put the lives of loyal
men at risk, but she still wouldn’t change what she’d done. Not a second. A
truth she wasn’t altogether sure how to process.
“Focus
on the ones worthy of your gift. Not someone—”
“Enough.”
She straightened and met her brother’s scowl. Every muscle shook with fatigue.
“I watched an innocent woman die tonight. Held her in my arms while she
screamed.”
“Trust
me.” Ramsay glowered at the unconscious man behind her. “He’s not innocent.”
For
years she’d trusted her brothers. Loved and followed them with unwavering
loyalty wherever they asked her to go. Until this moment. She inched forward on
trembling legs, hands fisted at her sides. “Innocent or not, I saw goodness in
him. Watched him say a prayer over Phybe’s body and felt his grief. Healing is
my gift to use when and how The Great One guides me. Not to be commandeered and
directed by a man swept up in the heat of battle. Life is life, no matter whose
heart feeds it.”
Ramsay
sneered. “Even Maxis Steysis?”
Nearly
six hundred years their families had been at war, since their grandfather left
Maxis’ grandmother pregnant at the altar in favor of a commoner.
“Everyone
has a shred of goodness in them.” Well, maybe not Maxis. But she’d be damned if
she let Ramsay question her judgment. There was a reason she was drawn to
Reese. She just needed a little time to figure out why. “If you’d stop and
think for a minute you’d know saving him is a smart move. If he fought with
Maxis, he knows things. Things you won’t be able to learn anywhere else.”
Reese’s
chest rose and fell, slow and steady. With a push from her senses, she
registered the faint but solid rhythm of his heart. More than anything she
ached to kneel beside him. To finish the job she’d begun and skim her fingers
through his wild hair. Perhaps link her fingers with his long, tapered ones and
rest alongside him while she waited for him to wake.
Praise
The Great One, what was wrong with her? This protectiveness didn’t make sense.
Eryx’s
best friend and somo, Ludan, shouted from the furthest edge of battle.
“Ramsay.”
Galena
knew that tone. Had heard it after too many battles. Another warrior in need of
care. With a last glance at Reese to placate herself, she headed in Ludan’s
direction. “I’ve got it.”
Three
steps in she stopped and glared at Ramsay. “You may not care for him. May see
him as the vilest of men. But do not disrespect my gift by hurting him.”
She
left her frowning brother behind, and prayed the promise of a traitor’s
information would stay Ramsay’s hand until she returned.
Rhenna Morgan writes for the same reason she reads—to escape reality.
Yes, her life rocks—two beautiful little girls, a great husband, a steady job, and the kind of friends that would take you out back if you hurt her. But, like most women, she’s got obligations stacked tight from dusk to dawn. So, when the world gets her down, she slips into something…less realistic.
Romance is a must. So is a steamy romp (or four). Nothing thrills her more than the fantasy of new, exciting worlds, strong, intuitive men, and the sigh of, “Oh if only that could happen to me.”
So, if you’re picking up one of her books, expect portals into alternate realms and men who’ll fight to keep the women they want. Romantic escape for the women who need it.
https://twitter.com/rhennamorgan (@RhennaMorgan)
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2 comments:
Thank you so much for hosting me today & for helping me share my new release! <3
Hi Rhenna! Great post! I always look at fantasy as alternate universe type story, but I like the term contemporary fantasy! I'm looking forward to trying your series!
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