Since I'm working on the next tale in the Highland Gardens series—Just His Fae Kiss—Caitrina and Douglas's story and I have a Goodreads giveaway ending today for Just Wait For Me, I thought it would be fun to share the prologue, featuring Caitrina, from Just Wait For Me.
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9 September, 1513
Near the village of Branxton in northern England
The king is dead.
Anguish tore from her halfling soul with a fae scream that reverberated over the field of devastation like rolling thunder. Silence ensued. Men frozen in fear.
Caitrina dropped to her knees beside the redheaded warrior and ran gentle fingers along the bloodied curve of his handsome face. Damn Oonagh! Damn the Fae Queen! She’d refused to allow Caitrina to intervene in the politics of the mortals and prevent this tragedy.
Now, the king lay dead, fatally wounded by an arrow and a bill. Be damned the English and their nasty weapon—the bill, a staff mounted with a hooked chopping blade and pointed projections. The Scots hadn’t stood a chance against the onslaught on the slippery, hilly terrain with their cumbersome pikes.
Heartbroken, she cradled the man to her breast. Such greatness lost. Tears spilled unchecked onto his precious face. Too late. Even the magic tears of a Sithichean princess couldn’t revive the king.
“Caitrina! Let us be away from here.” The brùnaidh, the Maclachlan Clan brownie, fussed at her back. “We must remove Stephen from the field before the English learn he lives and plunge a bill into his chest.”
She ignored the wee man. How would the Scots forge forward without their beloved king—with only a bairn and the sister of the despised English monarch to guide them?
“If we lose Stephen you will never regain your rightful place.”
Aye. She must deal with Oonagh and the stupid matchmaking challenge. Caitrina released James from her embrace and eased him to the ground. “Sleep in peace, oh, greatest king.”
The metallic tang of blood fouled the air. She rose and moved through the death and destruction. Oonagh had tricked her. Led her to believe after three matches she’d be free to return and live in Tir-nan-Og, the beloved faerie paradise, land o’ heart’s desire. But Oonagh had refused to reveal which match was the third and final. The one that would free Caitrina from servitude to the Fae Queen.
Caitrina and Munn had expended considerable energy on a third match only to learn Archibald and Isobell were the wrong couple. Therefore, one match remained to perform.
“Needs be we hurry!” Munn sidestepped one of the petrified English knights.
They found Stephen’s prone form not far from that of his king. Caitrina rolled him over and took stock of his injuries. Thanks be to Danu, the blond warrior would live. She cloaked the three of them in fae mist and whisked them away on the fetid breeze to the healing caves of the Gray Women.
The battlefield returned to morbid activity—an agony of pain.
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Today, September 27, 2017, is the last day to enter the Goodreads giveaway for a chance to win a signed copy of Just Wait For Me.
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Hope you enjoyed this wee peek into 'Just Wait For Me', a Highland Gardens Novel.
~Dawn Marie
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