Paranormal author Kallysten is cooking up some twins for you today! That's right a double recipe. She will prepare each on separately (NO, tasting till she finishes) and combine them at the end for a dish that will satisfy not only your senses, but also your soul. Hungry yet?
Bradan ('Brad') Dorentan (QuickSilver Guard channeler)
Recipe created by Kallysten
Bodyguards (QuickSilver Codex Book #1)
2 icy-blue eyes
1 disarming smile
1 silver tattoo
6'2" of lean, hard muscle
mounds of Quickening
just a dash of shyness
a generous shot of warm cocoa liquor
heaps of talent with a sword
an appreciation for anything that calls itself music
enough devotion to his brother and land to fill the sky and just a dash more of the same to his dame
Stir devotion, muscle, eyes and smile along with Quickening until the body forms and is able to channel magic. Be careful not to stir too much so the twin bond can develop fully.
While still malleable, apply silver tattoo to the left wrist and bind with QuickSilver Oath.
Bake slowly for 14 years on Earth. Occasionally baste with shyness, talent, cocoa liquor and appreciation of music. This will allow devotion to his dame to turn into love.
At regular intervals, return to Foh'Ran for a few hours to cultivate sword talent and insure that devotion to brother and land remains complete.
Right before his dame's Naming Day, allow him to break free of his shyness and finally reveal himself to her to allow him to express his full potential as QuickSilver Guard and love interest. Watch sparks fly and enjoy.
Aedan Oryonis (QuickSilver Guard vampire)
Recipe created by Kallysten
Quickening (QuickSilver Codex Book #2)
2 icy-blue eyes
2 razor-sharp fangs
6'2" of lean, hard muscle
mounds of Quickening
truckloads of secrets
plenty of blood
heaps of talent with knives
a sprinkling of loneliness
3 parts reserve, 1 part fire
enough devotion to his brother and land to fill the sky and just a dash more of the same to his dame
Stir devotion, muscle and eyes along with Quickening until the body forms and is able to channel magic. Be careful not to stir too much so the twin bond can develop fully.
While still malleable, bind with QuickSilver Oath.
Add fangs and blood. Be sure to filter out ability to channel but allow Quickening to remain to keep body alive. At this point, the eyes will take a metallic tint. This is normal.
Bake at the king's court under secrets for 75 years, allowing talent with knives to develop. This length will allow for reserve and fire to gain more flavor. At this point a sprinkling of loneliness is required, although you'll counteract the bitterness with occasional visits from twin brother.
These visits will insure that devotion to brother remains as deep as devotion to land. Devotion to his dame might appear to decrease, but do not be alarmed: its flavor will burst out again as soon as his dame is reintroduced to him. Savor.
Taste Test
Aedan blinked twice, then glanced down at his chest. “What? Oh. That. It’s nothing.”
“Nothing?” Bradan snorted. “Don’t be silly. Come here.”
With something that sounded like a cross between a chuckle and a sigh, Aedan pushed himself to his feet and came over. There wasn't much Bradan could do about the bruises; healers could erase those and fix just about anything else, but Bradan was no healer. The cuts, at least, he could heal.
Pushing Aedan’s pendant, a twin of his own, over his shoulder to rest against his back and clear his chest, Bradan took hold of the Quickening. He focused it through the emotion that permeated every fiber of his soul: his love for Vivien. The world lost its color, and yet in his mind, it still burst with life and beauty. Aedan shivered when Bradan raised his hand and channeled, but he didn’t say anything as his skin knitted itself back together. Soon, the marks on his chest appeared to be days old rather than fresh. In a few hours, there’d be no trace left.
“She channeled last night,” Aedan said in lieu of thanks.
Bradan had known that they’d talk about Vivien, but this start to the conversation surprised him nonetheless. “She did, yes. How do you know?”
“When you two channel together,” Aedan said in a low, strained voice, “the bond is amplified. I don’t just feel your emotions, I…”
He looked away. If Bradan hadn't known any better, he might have thought Aedan was embarrassed. It couldn't be, though. They had no secrets for each other. Unless…
“It’s like I’m there, too,” Aedan finished after clearing his throat. “I wasn't trying to—”
“I know,” Bradan said immediately, wishing nothing more than to end his brother’s discomfort. “Of course you didn't want to peek in. It’s the bond.”
Aedan nodded, his relief apparent when he met Bradan’s eyes again. “I've never heard of something like this happening. Have you?”
Shaking his head, Bradan smiled and turned back to the mirror, bringing the razor to his cheek again. “Where would I have heard about that? In the Otherworld?”
Aedan snorted and waited until Bradan had lifted the razor from his skin to jostle his shoulder.
“Watch it,” Aedan said. “She might lose interest if you cut that pretty face.”
“Or she might find me more handsome for it,” Bradan shot back, grinning. He thought of letting Aedan wash up in cold water, but with a long suffering sigh he channeled to warm the bowl of water in the washroom.
“Is that how you got hurt?” he asked after a moment. “Too distracted by the bond to fight properly? What kind of animal got to you, anyway?”
A beat passed before Aedan replied from the washroom, his voice a low murmur.
“A welfgar.”
The razor slipped, leaving a thin red line on Bradan’s skin, and blood immediately welled up to it. Bradan couldn't have cared less. He took the few steps to the washroom without really being aware of doing so, his eyes wide as he stared at Aedan.
“A what?”
Aedan rolled his eyes at him. “What did I say about cutting your face?”
He brought his index finger to his mouth, and Bradan caught a hint of fang as Aedan cut his fingertip. He started to reach for Bradan’s face, but Bradan stopped him by catching his wrist.
“You went into the woods and fought a welfgar,” he said blankly. “By all the Quickening, why would you do something so stupid?”
Huffing, Aedan pulled his wrist free and pressed his bloody finger along the cut on Bradan’s face. Bradan tried to pull back, but Aedan wouldn't let him retreat before he was done.
“I do have to feed,” Aedan said as he finished. “Rabbits and other small animals only help to a point.”
The words didn't feel like a lie, but neither were they the whole truth. Watching his brother return to washing up, Bradan couldn't help but wince as he took in the bruises on Aedan’s ribs and back. Even if Aedan had wanted to feed off a welfgar, why would he let the animal get close enough to hurt him? Why hadn't he killed it first? He was good enough to kill it with a well-placed throw of his knife.
Suddenly, it all clicked. Aedan’s bruises, his hunger—the bond.
“Did it work?” Bradan asked at last.
Aedan looked up from drying his face and chest with a towel. His expression was unreadable, but the guilt pulsing through the bond wasn't only Bradan’s.
“I’m better now,” he said, and that wasn't an answer.
On the verge of her twentieth birthday, Vivien’s worries are those of a typical young woman: doing well in college, gaining more independence, and maybe managing to show Brad, her classmate and sometimes jogging partner, that she wouldn’t mind taking their burgeoning relationship to a different level.
Everything changes in the blink of an eye. Vivien stumbles into a knife fight, watches a man die in front of her, and soon listens, stunned, as Brad and his brother Aedan tell her a story of magic, vampires and a murderous ruler intent on killing a princess in hiding – a tale in which she is the princess and heir to a realm she didn’t know existed.
Vivien’s first instinct is to refuse to believe this incredible tale, even if it comes from a man she is attracted to. But when her self-proclaimed bodyguards use magic to take her to a different world, the edges of reality start blurring and Vivien has to figure out who she truly is.
book page with buy links: http://original.kallysten.net/2012/bodyguards/
On Foh’Ran, a parallel world in which a magical force called the Quickening rules the lives of humans and vampires alike, Vivien just won her first battle.
Raised on Earth, Vivien had no idea she was heir to Foh’Ran’s throne until Brad and Aedan, her bodyguards, revealed themselves to her and took her to her family’s ancestral castle. Her first confrontation with Rhuinn, the man who usurped her throne, ended as well as could be hoped and she won a few days of respite until she has to appear at the royal court again.
Before she does, however, she’ll need to break through her mental block and master the Quickening to prove herself a worthy daughter of Foh’Ran. She’ll also have to gain allies among Foh’Ran’s influential families. The most difficult part, however, might be to follow Aedan’s advice and learn to act like a queen when she’s still unsure whether she truly wants the throne, and would rather simply be Brad’s girlfriend.
book page where buy links will be posted as they come live: http://original.kallysten.net/2013/quickening/
About the Author:
Blog-Facebook-Google+-Twitter-Goodreads
Kallysten’s most exciting accomplishment to date was to cross a few thousand miles and an ocean to pursue (and catch!) the love of her life. She has been writing for over fifteen years, and always enjoyed sharing her stories and listening to the readers' reactions. After playing with science fiction, short stories and poetry, she is now trying her hand, heart and words at paranormal romance novels. To see her other stories, including free short stories and sample chapters, visit http://original.kallysten.net
a Rafflecopter giveaway
