Earthen:
A
Dragon’s Keep Story
Book
Three
Raelynn
Blue
Genre:
Urban Fantasy/Shifter/IR
Publisher:
Shara Azod LLC
Date
of Publication: February 14, 2014
ISBN:
9781312008984
Number
of pages:140
Word
Count: 29,000
Cover
Artist: Marteeka
Book
Description:
Sonya
Gou has a major issue. Her guardian keeps her safe from threats
against her life and his heart. How can she survive being so close to
the one man she cannot have?
Zihao
Liang. Guardian. Warrior. Earthen. Blood sworn to protect the Gou's
treasure, Sonya, he has put his love for her beneath a sacred vow to
protect her at all cost.
Zihao
and Sonya must put their love to the test when a powerful enemy
threatens all they hold dear.
Excerpt:
“You’re
of age this year.” Zihao said.
“Don’t
remind me.” She glanced at him from the corners of her eyes to see
his reaction. Like usual, he didn’t have one.
Instead
he said, “Mating is not a death sentence.”
“That
remains to be seen.”
“Don’t
worry.”
“I’m
not worried.”
Oh,
liar, liar. She battled back the pinprick of tears in her eyes. Zihao
read her like an open book.
She
hated the idea of mating to someone she did not love. Her inner
dragon rose at the thought of being pinned to some arrogant shifter,
but what could she do? Her clan’s power and prestige made her a
trophy for others looking to move up the political ranks of the
dragon shifter world. Her father made good use of this knowledge and
accepted many gifts from other clans whose sons hoped to be mated to
her.
Inside
her dragon rumbled angrily, and she blew out a slow sigh to settle
her down.
At
the root of her heartbreak lay Ziaho. Her pride in her clan stood
only to be challenged by her love for him. As an earthen dragon, a
dilong, Ziaho could only control the earth and when his kind shifted,
they tended to resemble more garden snake than dragon. To quote her
father, Zihao’s clan lacked the grace of flight, the fierceness of
firebreathing, or the elegance of seadragons. If earthen dragons
ranked lower on the list of dragon abilities, Zihao’s family held
up the rear.
“It’s
an old fashion idea, using women as pawns in a modern day chess set.
We live in a new millennium. I’m an independent woman. We’re long
removed from the keep and into the human world. In this country,
women have rights, freedoms…” Sonya turned to look at Zihao.
Would
her words reach his heart? Damn it. She couldn’t keep her voice
from trembling with unshed tears. Sighing, she caught her rant before
it grew a tail and wrapped itself around her throat. Even the walls
had ears and mouths in the keep.
They
spoke to her parents about everything that occurred.
And
her uncle, Elder Gou.
With
a weary glance at Zihao, she realized the irony of the situation.
Assigned to be her protector, he hailed from the origin country,
China like most of the dragon shifters’ rulers and the royal court,
to which her family had once belonged. Zihao’s flawless English hid
his guardian rank. Most earth dragons never spoke at all—only
guarded what they’d been ordered to protect or spent decades
digging out mountains and hills, to create keeps for dragons of a
higher caste.
“It
may be traditional, but it is our way. It keeps you safe.”
“You
have kept me safe.”
Hearing
the sharpness of her tone, Zihao’s face hardened. Narrow eyes, flat
nose, thin but kissable lips he resembled most of Longwei tribe. His
dark burning eyes flashed, his own dragon rising at the bitterness in
her tone, no doubt, but he quickly calmed. Falling into silence, he
crossed his arms over his muscular chest and faded back into the
cavern’s shadows.
“I’m
sorry. I’m just annoyed. It’s a double standard and it’s
inconsistent.”
“Shush,
Sonya…” Zihao’s voice rumbled in warning just loud enough for
her to hear.
“No,
hear me out…” Sonya left the window’s light and ventured
further into the room. Candles lapped at the quiet. “No one finds
it odd that you are here alone with me, a single 28 year old woman—in
my bedroom. I’m of mating age and you’re a dragon too.”
She
stopped directly in front of him. Her chin came to the top of his
well-defined adnominal muscles, a foot shorter. Taking a deep breath,
Sonya looked up and like always her heart whirled in joy.
Hands
on her hips. “See my point?”
“I
am your dilong. You are the Gou’s treasure. I am blood sworn to
protect you.”
She
touched his face, cupping his cheek in her open palm. His new growth
scratched her palm.
“Does
that mean you wouldn’t lay down with me, in that bed?” She
inclined her head to her king¬size bed draped in seafoam green
linens. It had become her only saving grace in the sparsely¬furnished
space, the one piece of furniture no dragon’s nest went without—a
mating bed.
Zihao
became more still. Only a year older, he’d been charged with her
protection since she turned 16. Her older dilong died during yet
another assassination attempt on her life. He’d been Zihao’s
father.
After
the violent loss of his father, he’d been made her protector, her
earthen wall, her mountain.
“To
do so, Son, is death,” he croaked.
“Zihao…”
She tiptoed and tried to kiss him.
He
gently held her shoulders and moved her back a few steps before
returning to his original position. “We cannot be as we once were.”
“Why?”
She bit her lip to stem the sob of regret in her throat.
“Because
we are not what we once were. I am your dilong. Nothing more.”
Tears
gathered but she did not let them fall. Anger burned them away within
seconds. They had been young, but they were in love. She loved him
still. Her parents forbid it, but they loved anyway. When Zihao’s
father died, they took pleasure in making him her bodyguard. They
wanted it to be a lifetime of torment and torture—to be so close to
what he could not have—all because she and Zihao had defied their
orders. Her parents believed themselves to be protecting her, but in
fact they had only succeeded in making her resent them more.
Zihao
shook his head as he dusted off her dress. “You had to push it.”
Sonya
swallowed the remnants of pain. The burning sensation had gone now
that its source had
left
too. How could she make him understand that she loved him and no
other dragon would ever do? Ever?
Her
dragon only glowed and warmed for him—at the sound of his voice, at
the thud of his steps, and the glance from his eyes and the sound of
her name on his tongue.
She
didn’t say any of those things, but instead gave the answer that
would invoke the least amount of emotional anguish.
“I
had to stand my ground.”
“So
you did.”
Sonya
nodded. “No matter how many breaths I take, I still feel like I’m
drowning here.”
“I
would never let that happen,” Zihao vowed.
About
the Author:
RaeLynn
Blue is the author of numerous tales of erotic interracial romance
and speculative romance. With an imagination that's varied and
diverse, her tales explores love in all its many shades, situations
and scenarios. She fell into romance stories at the ripe age of
eleven and has been writing stories ever since. A humble scribbler of
tales, RaeLynn is actively writing another story of lust, love, and
romance.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/raelynn.blue.5
Twitter:
@raelynnblue
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