Please help me welcome Author Michelle Hiscox to my blog today!
A
New Day at Midnight
The
Hearne Family Saga
Book
1
Michelle
Hiscox
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Bookkus Publishing
Date of Publication: February 14,
2015
ISBN: 0991709497
ASIN: B00TGOODU4
Page Count Print – 264
Page Count Electronic – 268
Word Count: 92,691
Cover Artist: Bookkus Publishing
Book Description:
When Merik Hearne finally lays
claim to the woman that betrayed him, she inspires much more than his need for
revenge—but is her love worth dying for again?
Condemned to play host to a demon,
the scarred Romani leader has amassed a fortune with only one goal in mind—to
possess Hannah Worthington, the traitorous beauty that has eluded him for over
a decade. With an exchange of coin, everything he has been striving for is
within reach but nothing is as he imagined. The tender, sharp-tongued woman he
encounters tests the bounds of his convictions and he is torn between the
promise of reckoning and longing for a love that once destroyed him.
Exchanged for a purse of gold and
informed she is to be a slave, Hannah vows she has not survived a lifetime of
loss only to wither under the likes of Merik Hearne. And she will do everything
she can to make sure he knows it. Despite his overbearing manner, his fierce
scars, and her own determination to escape him, she begins to see that
something beautiful might lie beneath…something that belongs only to her. She
must discover the angle from which the great lord plays before his dark desires
consume them both.
As they struggle to find truth amid
pasts marred by sorrow and secrecy, they are unaware that a vengeful apostle
orchestrates the rise of a forgotten god—and the end of their chance at a life
together.
Available at Amazon Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk BN
Excerpt 1
As Merik looked
about the darkness of his cell with new eyes, he saw Hannah standing in the
corner. He knew she was not truly there, but the voice of the other ensured he
did not look away as it whispered in his ear. He saw her many times, always a
mirage, always torturous. Unsure if his rage outweighed his disappointment at
her absence, he listened.
She mocks you,
young one. She told those men where to find you. She told them lies about you.
They could know nothing without her betrayal. You will find her. Make her
bleed. You will find her and make her pay for each transgression. Sink your
teeth deep within her and watch the blood flow over the ground. Drink her dry
until her offences are but a memory. It will ease the agony, as nothing else
will.
Merik saw her a
thousand times during his short stay in the cellar. The pain sliced through
him, and it would not ease no matter how much his father fed him. Nothing
helped to suffuse the suffering until he began seeing Hannah in the confines of
the cell.
He saw her exactly
as she looked that night at the clearing. In spite of himself, he found himself
reaching for her hand, and did so each time she appeared to him. Desire bubbled
to the surface and he despised it, closing his eyes against the sight of her.
The image played over and over in his mind, running like a crooked wheel. He
saw the woman who destroyed him, the woman who destroyed his brothers, and he
could think only of making her suffer—until he thought of touching her again.
The bottle
shattered in his hand from the force of his grasp, and he looked down to see
shards of glass embedded within the flesh of his palm. When he looked up,
Hannah was gone.
Excerpt 2
Hannah realized
Merik had left her doors unlocked. Again. Did he believe she would stay now
that she knew his true name and nature? She dare not utter the real question
plaguing her, but it invaded her mind nonetheless.
Is he right? A
large ember escaped from the iron latticework in front of the fire, landing on
the rug at her feet. She watched it smoulder.
Smoke curled up in
delicate tendrils, disappearing before reaching the high ceiling. She stared
for several long moments, willing the flame to grow, to consume her. It held
the colour of Merik’s eyes, burning gold and crimson. A small flame flickered
to life, hungry for progress until she stamped it out with the heel of her
foot.
Rising from the
fire to flop on her bed, she stopped short as an echo rang through the hall.
Certain her battered senses played tricks on her, she pulled back her covers to
lay down but heard it again.
Whether it was a
call of rage, grief, or agony she could not distinguish. It came from Merik’s
quarters, echoing deep within the shadows of the hall. Padding to her door, she
warred between anger over his treatment of her and the desire to ease his pain.
She could not
ignore the fact he’d told her the truth. Pulling a robe about her shoulders,
she kicked off her charred slipper. Without consulting her mind, she made the
decision with her heart. She rested her hand on the door, opening the barrier
between her and the unknown.
“Shit. Shit, shit,
shit. What am I doing? I can stay in my rooms. There is hardly any need to go
out there.”
Another tortured
cry rose in the air, strengthening her resolve to help Merik.
Lighting a candle,
she forced herself to go into the hall. Another cry rang through the air, and
as she got closer to Merik’s chamber, she finally understood what he was
saying. Her name.
“I’m coming,
Merik.” Running to his room, she entered through the open door to see an empty
chamber. Desperation overrode the fear hammering her heart against her chest.
The room smelled of blood, of sickness. Could Vetala even get sick? Could they
die?
“No, please no,
not again. Merik? Merik, please call my name.”
He groaned. As she
followed the source of the noise, the candle shook in her hand. The hot wax
stung her flesh when she stopped several steps in front of a half-open door set
in the wall.
“Merik?” The smell
of death clung to the entrance and she gagged. The candle wobbled in her hand.
She steadied it, saying a quick thanks to God it did not go out. She could not
bear to go forth in the darkness without light. Setting the candle on the
floor, she swung the door wide. The candle flickered as she picked it up. Fear
twisted her guts and no matter how she tried, she could not stop her hands from
shaking. She took another step.
“Merik?” It took
her eyes several moments to see more than a foot from her face. When she saw
him in the dim light, she gasped. He now stood in front of her. It took her
several more moments to realize he was not standing of his own volition, but
rather restrained by chains embedded in the stone wall. When he lifted his
head, she covered her mouth to stifle a scream.
Eyes of molten
gold and crimson stared back at her. His jaw and facial bones were distended,
his hands curled into claws. The changes were much more severe than the few
instances she attributed to the loss of her mind.
“I…I…” Stepping
back toward the entrance, her gaze never left Merik’s. She turned her back on
him to commence a rather spineless retreat, but could not get her feet to
cooperate.
“Hannah?” The
voice held much more than pain. What? Desperation? Hope? She could not move as
her heart and mind waged war. Despite his appearance, she knew beneath the
angled bone protruding from his flesh, his distorted face, and the fangs
visible in his mouth, Merik stood in front of her. The man she met a decade
before. The man looking at her with the same single focused intensity with
which he always did. The man she loved.
Taking another
step and hearing nothing but her own harsh breathing, she took one more.
About
the Author:
Michelle Hiscox is a Paranormal
Romance fan and author who hails from Drumheller, Alberta. The dinosaur bones
buried in the hills of her hometown inspired the first stories she ever wrote,
and she feels blessed to walk those same hills with her daughter today. Crocus flowers
and dust bowls full of cactus never fail to inspire.
While her little girl and husband
provides many welcome distractions to writing, it's something she always finds
her way back to. Michelle is the proud, and slightly crazy, owner of two dogs
and three cats, all animals she loves more than she reasonably should. She's
been reading voraciously since she was a child and, one night, pulled her nose
from a book to start writing her own.
Website – http://www.michellehiscox.com
Amazon Author Page –http://www.amazon.com/l/B00VO2K990
Tour
giveaway
5 print or ebook copies of A New
Day at Midnight (winner’s choice, print available to US and Canadian Shipping
Only)
Link to giveaway form
Please help me thank Michelle for joining us today! Please check out her links and giveaway!
Keep Writing!
Jodie Pierce
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