Author: Blaine D. Arden
Release: August 15 2016
Blurb
Full Circle (Act #3)
“I have great responsibilities, but my path ahead is as foggy and blurred as the path behind me.”
With forester Taruif freed, Kelnaht has claimed him openly at Solstice before tribe and Ma’terra as his partner, but with their third, Ianys, bound by an old promise, their triad is still incomplete. Sneaking around puts the most strain on Ianys. He and Kelnaht must keep their relationship a secret or he will lose his daughter, Atèn.
When several children fall ill with more than a summer bug, truth seeker Kelnaht is assigned once more to investigate. What he finds is deadly and threatens the life of every underage child in the tribe, including Atèn. Then a wounded traveller is found in the forest, left to die after a vicious attack.
With Taruif and his apprentice on the hunt for a cure, Kelnaht focusses on the attacks, but the clues are few and more children are infected. Nothing seems to connect until both the traveller and Atèn dream of the same grey-haired elf. Driven by fear for his daughter, Ianys pulls away from his lovers. Kelnaht can only pray Ma’terra will guide him to a solution that brings them all together and keeps Atèn safe from harm.
A Triad In Three Acts (The Complete Trilogy)
"Your Path is muddy, Kelnaht, but don't think avoiding the puddles will make it easier to travel."
Kelnaht, a cloud elf, is a truth seeker caught between love and faith, when a murder reveals an illicit affair between two tree elves he desires more than he can admit. Kelnaht's former lover Ianys once betrayed him, and the shunned forester Taruif is not allowed to talk to anyone but the guide, their spiritual pathfinder.
The guide mentioned puddles, but I envisioned lakes, deep treacherous lakes, and I was drowning.
Then a stripling goes missing from the tribe, and heavy rainfall hides all traces of his whereabouts. With days creeping by without a lead, it's hard to keep the tribe's spirits up, more so when Kelnaht's own future depends on the elders. Taruif has been shunned for almost twenty turns, but now that a possible forester's apprentice is coming of age, the elders consider reducing his sentence. Taruif could be set free.
“I have great responsibilities, but my path ahead is as foggy and blurred as the path behind me.”
Later, when several children fall ill with more than a summer bug, truth seeker Kelnaht is assigned to investigate. What he finds is deadly and threatens the life of every underage child in the tribe, including Ianys' daughter Atèn. Then a wounded traveller is found in the forest, left to die after a vicious attack.
"There is always a way."
Kelnaht, Taruif, and Ianys are meant to be together, but old promises and the decree of the elders prevent them from claiming each other openly at Solstice. Kelnaht can investigate murder and foul play, but he can’t see how he can keep both his lovers without breaking the rules. But if he believes in the guide's words and trusts his faith in Ma’terra, they will find a way to clear the fog and puddles from their paths.
Blog Tour - Blaine D. Arden
When Ianys met Taruif. by Blaine D. Arden (Flash Fic)
The
lingering heat of the fire made the forge almost too hot for Ianys to
sleep. He threw the blankets off the cot and stared at the ceiling in
the glow from the small window.
While the shanna leaves kept wind and rain out, they didn't shut out the sounds of the forest.
Sounds
Ianys couldn't hear when he was working, whether he had his door wide
open or not. He'd be so focussed on what he was doing that no sound
would reach him until it was too late.
But here, in the quiet of the night, he heard everything. From the night critters to the rustle of leaves, to...
And there they were... footsteps, soft and steady. The forester's.
Ianys
held his breath. Would this be the night he went out to him? Who was
the forester on his way to see? Was he even meeting anyone?
Ianys
couldn't help but remember the first time he'd spotted the forester and
one of the tribe's hunters. He barely knew the elf, hadn't really seen
him after, not up close, and never at night behind his forge. But he
couldn't forget that night.
He
had just undressed for bed, spending it at the forge because he'd been
too busy to stop. Hadn't wanted to stop. Hadn't wanted to wake Atèn as
he came home, either. Or his parents. So, he'd stayed at the forge.
Nothing strange about that.
The sounds behind his forge had been.
It
was so quiet at night, nothing but the breeze and the night critters.
But there had been a snap, and Ianys had raised himself to his bare feet
on the cot and had looked through the tiny shanna-leaf window.
The sight before him had brought back all memories of Kel, of Naia. Of love.
He'd never really looked at the forester before. No one did. He was shunned, untouchable.
And gorgeous in the lingering moonlight. Ianys barely noticed the hunter. All he could do was stare at the forester.
Ianys
was not the most adept at reading people, but he had no trouble reading
the forester's body language, even with his back turned to him. The
forester was tall, towering over the hunter, and his long hair hung down
his back in a braid, but it couldn't hide the way his body tensed for a
moment when the hunter wrapped his arms around him, only to relax a
moment later.
Longing.
That was what Ianys saw when he looked at the forester. So much
longing, Ianys felt it deep in his core. The same longing Ianys had been
carrying around for so many turns now. The one he couldn't share with
Kel any more, no matter how much he wanted to. He'd promised Naia before
she passed away, and he'd be a dross if he was going to lose Atèn...
not for anything.
Ianys
never forgot about the forester and his longing. Every night he spent
at the forge he would listen for the sounds of footsteps. The sounds of
illicit meetings in the dark of night. And when the forester was meeting
someone—not always the same elf, though always male—Ianys would find
himself
standing on his cot, staring out of his small window, watching the
forester kiss. Watching his muscles tense and release, and reading the
same blasted longing.
Ianys
barely slept those nights. And he couldn't stop longing. He found
himself wanting to be the one the forester kissed. Which was impossible.
If he wasn't
going
to risk losing Atèn for Kel, then he certainly wasn't going to risk it
for the forester. But the idea wouldn't leave him alone. Every night he
heard those familiar sounds behind his forge, he would stare out of the
window and wish he was the one meeting the forester for some relief.
That
was all it was going to be. Some shared relief. The touch of another to
stop feeling so blasted lonely all the time when the elf he really
wanted was the one he couldn't even talk to for fear of caring too much.
The forester would be safe in that way. Ianys wasn't attached to him,
wasn't in love with him. It would just be some relief between two lonely
elves...
Yet,
night after night, Ianys couldn't bring himself to take that final
step. He couldn't get off his cot, away from his window. He couldn't
force himself out the door to meet the forester. Of course, chances were
that when the forester appeared behind his forge, he was meeting
someone else. And Ianys didn't want to get caught the way he had caught
them. Instead he listened... and watched.
He
would never tell. As far as he was concerned, these elves knew what
they were doing, and it wasn't for him to make their lives more
difficult. Not when he wanted what they had... and more.
Deep
in thought, Ianys almost fell off his cot when a branch snapped close
to his forge. He grabbed the bedding to keep still, his heart thumping
and his throat dry. The forester seemed early. Or maybe it was the
tanner he'd been seeing lately. Ianys didn't get up to look.
But
a second set of footsteps never came. A soft rustling was the only
sound for a long time. Too long for Ianys to stay still and wait.
His
fingers were cramped and painful when he let go of the cot and rose to
his feet. There he was, the forester, his back turned to Ianys. Alone.
Waiting.
Before
Ianys could stop himself, he was rounding the large oak that was his
forge with bare feet in untied boots, trousers hanging loosely off his
hips, and tunic still in hand.
He turned to go back in, but it was too late. The forester had already seen him.
Ianys
froze, mouth open in an unspoken apology, stupidly waiting for the
forester to say something. But he wouldn't, would he? Of course he
wouldn't. The forester was shunned. He wasn't allowed to speak to him.
What
was he doing? This was madness. But then Ianys caught the look in the
forester's eyes, and all thought left him. It wasn't the fear that
prompted him to move. It was the longing. Ianys was sick of being alone.
Sick of not being able to be near Kel. What was wrong with forgetting
about it all for just one night?
He
didn't stop until he stood chest to chest with the forester. The
forester flinched, but didn't step back. Ianys smiled, ignoring his
shaking hands and dry throat, and leaned in.
Stubble
rasped against stubble as Ianys claimed the forester's lips with his
own, sending shivers down his spine. After a moment of stillness, of
hesitation, the forester kissed back. His mouth was warm and inviting as
he deepened their kiss. They grabbed hold and clung to each other as
they chased away the loneliness that haunted them, even if it was for
just a moment.
Ianys was still smiling when they broke apart. Then he took the forester's hand and led him into the forge.
Author Bio
Blaine D. Arden is a purple-haired, forty-something author of queer romance mixed with fantasy, mystery, and magic who sings her way through life in platform boots.
Born and raised in Zutphen, the Netherlands, Blaine spent many hours of her sheltered youth reading, day dreaming, making up stories and acting them out with her Barbies. After seeing the film “An Early Frost” as a teen in the mid-eighties, an idealistic Blaine wanted to do away with the negativity surrounding homosexuality and strove to show the world how beautiful love between men could be. Our difference is our strength, is Blaine’s motto, and her stories are often set in worlds where gender fluidity and sexual diversity are accepted as is.
When not writing or reading, Blaine has singing lessons and hopes to be in a band someday. Supporting Blaine in pursuing her dreams and all matters regarding household, sons, and cairn terrier, is her long-suffering husband for over twenty years.
Blaine is an EPIC Award winning author and has been published by Storm Moon Press, Less Than Three Press, and Wilde City Press. Her scifi romance “Aliens, Smith and Jones” received an Honourable Mention in the Best Gay Sci-Fi/Fantasy category of the Rainbow Awards 2012.
Blaine can be found on "http://blainedarden.com"
Thanks for having me :)
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