Ties of Smoke
by Claudia
Herring
GENRE: Fantasy
BLURB:
Lady Lavinia Bramley
is master of a Djinni.
Lavinia runs away
from her husband to make a life with the djinni Yasir, but it’s not what she
thought, not pearls and flying carpets and wishes come true . . .
Her desperate efforts
to find happiness with Yasir are foiled by her husband’s reappearance, murder
attempts by the jealous magician who cursed Yasir to the urn, and Yasir’s
desire for revenge.
Lavinia finds love,
and loyalty, are as ephemeral as ties of smoke.
Excerpt:
Chapter 8: page 3-4
“ . . . not any blood type I’ve ever
seen, not in the ABO or Rh group. He doesn’t fall into any of the known
genotype-phenotype distinctions.” The baritone voice in the distinct accent of
the Indos wavered into Yasir’s burgeoning consciousness.
“You drew his blood?” A woman’s
voice, cool, aristocratic.
“Of course, Dr. Kushner, it’s
standard proce—”
“Dr. Senei,” her tone flattened. “We
have our orders, I went over them—”
“But he-he’s not human. I’ve never
seen anything li—”
“It doesn’t matter if he’s a
giraffe. We were told not to draw blood.”
“But his condition is worsening. We
are doc–tors.” Dr. Senei’s voice broke.
“This is a private hospital. We are
doctors to our patrons. And we do what they want.”
“The patient needs help. Do you want
him to die? Does our patron want him to die?” Desperation jumped his voice to a
higher register.
“Dr. Senei, our patron wants his
patient kept alive and drugged. His wound must not heal totally.” Yasir heard
her take a deep breath. “You said it yourself. This man is not human. And I
will tell you what no one else knows.” She paused. “He has great powers. If
this wound heals, even if he’s drugged, he may escape. Our patron also has
great powers. Do you want him to find out it was you who allowed his patient to
escape, to grow strong enough to use his powers?”
“I-I have never— I am a doctor. I
took an oath—”
“You also signed a contract. It
clearly states that our oath is subject to our patron’s wishes. And he pays you
a considerable sum.” Her voice was cold. “Perhaps you need a little time to
reread the contract. To rethink what you want to do here.”
The sweep of the heavy door and
subsequent footsteps drowned out the hum of the machines. “Dr. Senei may have
breached his contract.” The woman’s stern voice stopped the shuffling. “We have
protocol for that.”
“What?” Dr. Senei’s voice shrilled
above the scraping shoes. The blow of a fist on flesh. “Ooof. My glasses!” The
clink and snap of metal. “I am not a criminal. No!” A sharp cry. “What is in
that? You can’t drug me. I haven’t done any—”
“Here?” Her timbre sharp. “You did
it here? Can’t I trust you?”
“He was getting hysterical.” A deep voice
suppressed to a hoarse rasp. “Did you want all the doctors and nurses to—”
The sound of someone running. The
door banged open. “Did you need help in here?” A silent pause. The machines
hummed, smooth and efficient. “I thought I heard— Oh. Dr. Senei. Who put cuffs
on him? I don’t think he’s breath—”
Quiet settled in the room.
Had they left? Yasir lay still,
listening.
AUTHOR BIO:
Claudia
Herring aspired to be a baton twirler when she was five and an archaeologist at
thirteen. When she became a graphic designer and an author of fantasy, she
decided she'd hit upon the perfect compromise.
Along
the way she worked as a gift wrapper, a server in a Mexican restaurant at an
amusement park (where she rode the Black Dragon at midnight—an actual ride, not
a sexual allusion) and an illustrator in medical graphics (where they featured
videos on wound healing during lunch) at the Texas Medical Center.
Her
novel, His Master's Bride, a historical fantasy with romantic elements set in
Regency England, won first prize in the Houston Writer's Guild Novel
Competition. Ties of Smoke is the second in the series The Djinn Chronicles.
When
she's not delving into the world of the Djinn, Claudia is practicing yoga to go
to that hushed space where she imagines and plots her next fantasy novel.
If
you like Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series or Carol Berg’s Soul Mirror series
you'll love His Master’s Bride and Ties of Smoke.
Buy
Links:
TIES OF
SMOKE
Giveaway:
$15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC
Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning.
7 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
Thank you for hosting my novel, Ties of Smoke. Happy reading everyone!
What is the best book taht you have read recently? Thanks for the giveaway. I hope that I win. Bernie W BWallace1980(at)hotmail(d0t)com
Sounds like a great book - thanks for sharing!
A very interesting cover.
Congrats on the tour and thanks for the chance to win :)
Thank you Joseph (one of the books is Journeys to the Silk Road, about the cave of the 1000 Buddahs, fascinating. Victoria, Mary and Lisa—thanks for comment about the cover and I appreciate all of you checking out Ties of Smoke!
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