TEARS OF DEVOTION – SNIPPET
As I prepare to release my first Age of Magic book (a Kurtherian Gambit Universe fantasy series), and to celebrate finishing that book today, I thought I’d share some snippets from my already published book, Tears of Devotion. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
The man’s eyes opened, and he stared at the clouds floating across the sun that glimmered and wavered as if barely there. Yellow rays of light warmed the man’s skin, accompanied by a gentle breeze. A breath of fresh air alerted his senses, pulling him into the present, reminding him that he couldn’t lie there forever.
For a moment, he wondered if he were in heaven, but a shooting pain in his back told him that thought was wrong. He sat up with the piercing question of who he was and why he was here.
A glance at himself revealed tattered blue robes, and a sandal on his left foot but none on his right. He glanced at his surroundings, curious, hoping for a clue among the weeping willows that lined the reed-filled river, but found none.
Waters raged inches from the man’s feet, tossing froth across small rocks like a rabid dog hoping to eat all in its path, all but the life-size statue of a woman in the middle of the river, where the water soothed to a low whisper. The moment the man’s gaze met the face of the statue, he wished he had not wasted so much time looking elsewhere. He thought of diverting his eyes, to look at the maples in his periphery, or the gentle sky he still knew was above him, but he couldn’t. The statue’s slender neck led the man’s eyes to the soft chin and the perfectly formed pouty lips of this sorrow-filled angel. The marble formed a sleek nose below large eyes that stared into the sky as if to thank the heavens for her beauty.
A leaf came to a rest as it drifted along the river, floating against the statue’s base like a gentle hand caressing the woman’s leg. At that moment, the man thought he would give anything to be that leaf. Hours passed, and the statue seemed alive at moments, but always full of sorrow, and always staring at the heavens in gratitude.
Part of him hoped, maybe even believed, that if he lingered here long enough, the lapping waters would break the stone and reveal a living woman beneath. But another part of him said that no woman alive had ever been so beautiful. It couldn’t be possible. (more…)