Good morning everyone! Today I have a special treat for you. Please welcome Amon Kalins from Gabrielle Bisset's new release, Destiny Redeemed! And make sure to check out the tour-wide giveaway where Gabrielle is giving away 7 digital copies of Destiny Redeemed, just fill out this FORM.
Thanks, Crystal
Sentenced to spend the rest of his three remaining lifetimes in Nil, Amon Kalins is freed with the help of his Sidhe servant, Gethen, but now he must accept his life is never to be his again as the Council won't rest until he's safely back imprisoned within Nil's cold walls. Broken and nearly dead from his time in prison, Amon is saved by an Aeveren healer named Althea Forester. As a healer, Thea has served her people for forty-five lifetimes, never having a destined one and always knowing each lifetime would ultimately end with her alone. But destiny hasn't forgotten her.
Drawn to the seductive Amon, Thea quickly becomes a pawn the Council uses to trap him. Taken prisoner by the sadistic leader of the rebel group, the Soren, Thea must survive the vicious world of the people hell-bent on taking her destined one away forever, and Amon must risk everything dear to him to free her from those who would sacrifice her to claim the bigger prize and return him to Nil.
I gave Gabrielle a pretty hard time when she was writing the book that precedes mine. Seems I wasn’t supposed to exist at all, and then one day I was someone she had to reckon with because once I got a taste of the limelight in Stolen Destiny, I wasn’t going away any time soon. In that book, I was all bad guy, though.
So after she was finished with that book, I rattled around in her head wanting her to tell my story. It only took a couple weeks of haunting her and she’d begun Destiny Redeemed. I can be very persuasive when I want to be.
I didn’t end up with the girl then, so I wasn’t going to let that happen again this time. Even bad men deserve a good woman, don’t you think? I was lucky enough to get a great woman, and for that I’m grateful.
I’ve had three destined ones before Thea, and each time I’ve lost them because of my behavior. You see, I’ve been blessed with great powers, so it’s hard not to use them to my own advantage sometimes. Well, to be honest, many times. They say power corrupts. I can tell you they aren’t lying. For a long time, I was a selfish prick, and all that I’ve done in the past made it hard for Thea to believe I was a changed man.
But I was. That’s how destined ones work. One day you can be thinking only of your own happiness and satisfaction, and then the next day, you meet the person you’re supposed to be with—the person who completes you and makes you a better man—and your priorities change completely.
I can’t say if I’m going to stay the good guy, but let’s put it this way. When it comes to the woman I love, I take care of business, and if that means being a bad guy to make sure she’s safe, then bad guy it is. No matter who I have to mess with.
Excerpt:
Amon felt Thea’s body stiffen at his touch and even without probing her mind he knew he needed to brace himself for the onslaught of her emotions. As she turned around slowly to face him, he was secretly thrilled to notice she was still wearing his shirt.
Maybe this won’t be so bad.
“How the hell did you get in here? And who invited you in?” she snapped as she stood toe to toe with him, her hands on her hips and her blue eyes blazing.
Amon saw the genuine displeasure he’d caused and rethought the joke he wanted to make about not having to be invited in like a vampire. It was going to be as bad as he’d anticipated. And as painful if she continued to be angry.
“I’m sorry, Thea. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” In the hopes of diffusing the situation, he intentionally focused on softening his tone.
“Frighten me? Is that what you think you did? First, you have your goon kidnap me as if I’m your personal healer created just for you, and now you’re back to kidnap me yourself! Frightened? I’m so past frightened, Amon.”
If her emotions weren’t beginning to take their toll on him physically, he might be turned on by Thea’s outburst. He liked her like this. Feisty. Brave. A perfect match for him. Her emotions were beginning to cause him great pain, though, and in his still weakened state, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sustain much more of her anger.
“Please, Thea. Don’t be angry. I missed you.”
As he spoke, he took her hand in his and stroked his thumb over the soft skin of her knuckles.
“Amon, you broke into my house.”
Smiling happily as he felt her anger abate just a little, he answered, “Technically, I didn’t break in because I didn’t use the door.”
Thea looked at him with a confused look that made him want to explain, if only because it seemed to have calmed her down.
“I teleported in. So no breaking, really.”
“Teleported?”
“Yes, it’s one of my powers.”
“One?” Thea seemed to consider what he’d said and then continued. “I don’t care. You can’t just come into my house without being invited in.”
“I’m sorry. Can we sit down and talk?”
Amon saw her resolve weaken and knew he’d won her over for the moment. Still holding her hand, he walked with her to the couch and sat down next to her.
“Your house is very nice.” His words were predictable, but he hoped to avoid another emotional outburst from her that would be sure to hurt.
Thea turned her body toward him and smiled. “Amon, why are you here, if it’s not to kidnap me again?”
Her refusal to let him set the pace made him smile. He was going to have to tell her about Sevine.
“I missed you. I wish you hadn’t left.”
“Amon, I can’t just stay at your house for the rest of my life. I have a job...”
Thea caught herself and corrected what she’d said. “Well, I had a job before you sent that man to kidnap me and you held me captive.”
Amon felt her sadness wash over him, and he felt truly sorry for what had happened. “I never intended for that to happen. I will compensate you well to make up for everything. I promise.”
While he spoke, he looked directly into her eyes and wished they were back at his house together. Or better yet, at his home in Greece, somewhere he was sure she’d enjoy.
“You can’t just do things that hurt others and then simply throw money at the problem. I loved my job, and now I’ve lost it.”
Thea’s sadness stabbed at him, and he closed his eyes to ward off the pain. Unlike before, this was more an ache than searing pain.
“Are you okay, Amon?” he heard her say and he opened his eyes.
Wincing, he nodded, but concerned, she placed her hands on his and held them. “Where is the pain located?” she asked when she couldn’t figure out how to heal him.
“You can’t heal this, Thea. This is the pain I explained to you before.”
Gently squeezing his hands, she said quietly, “I can heal your pain. Please tell me where it’s coming from.”
There would be no explaining this away, so he decided to tell her the truth.
“Thea, you can’t heal it because you cause it. Or more specifically, your unhappiness causes it. My destined one cursed me to feel unrelenting pain each time I make you unhappy.”
“Why? I thought you said you hadn’t even seen her in lifetimes.”
“I haven’t.”
“Then why curse you with something from me?”
Amon sighed and knew he couldn’t avoid telling her the most important part of Sevine’s curse.
“She didn’t. The curse is more general than that. It affects me with anyone I love.”
Lifetimes of confidence seemed to evaporate in seconds as he watched Thea’s face darken.
“Love me? Is that what you think coming to my house to take me away is? Love?”
“You don’t understand. I found out...”
Thea cut him off in mid-sentence and put her hand up. “I understand perfectly. You want me back at your house to heal you, and you think the way to soften me up into accepting being kidnapped a second time is to tell me you love me. You must think I’m pretty pathetic if you believe that will work.”
Pain once again raged through his body and Amon silently reached out to Gethen to call for help. Moments later, he and Markku entered through the front door and Thea leaped from her seat on the couch.
“Don’t either of you have any manners either? Get out of my house now!”
Both men stood still waiting for instructions from Amon and appeared to almost look right through her. With each word, Amon felt weaker, and he leaned back against the couch, twisted in pain.
In a strangled voice, he whispered, “Thea, please listen. They’re here to help me. Your emotions are killing me.”
Turning to see his face drained of all color, she asked, “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
About the Aeveren:
Aeveren are a race of people descended from humans, but long ago they were chosen by the Archangel Raziel to be his people. He gave them the gifts of reincarnation, powers beyond what humans have, and destined ones. Aeveren live fifty lifetimes through reincarnation and carry with them their memories from their past lives. Upon reaching their twentieth lifetimes, they receive a power, such as telepathy, teleportation, or the power of time travel. However, some Aeveren are born with their abilities, making them far more powerful than the rest of the race. Finally, each Aeveren soul is given destined ones, other Aeveren meant only for them. However, Aeveren possess free will, so like humans, they don't always choose as they should.
About the Author:
An avid reader of all types of books, I read my first romance even before I was a teenager. I must have been a very precocious young lady! I still remember the book, if not the title. It was about a Southern man during the years before the Civil War and his illicit affair with one of the slaves of a woman he "frequented". I remember vividly reading the word "manhood" often in the book, and the slave's name was Sukie. Isn't it amazing what the mind can remember?
Fast forward a couple dozen years and I'm a college history instructor. I still love history as much as that romantic young woman did, so I teach it to college students, and the romantic streak has never gone away. Now I get to do things that have to do with my other favorite love: romance novels.
The idea for my first book came to me in a dream. I know that seems almost cliched, but it did. I woke up one morning after having an extremely vivid dream and began to jot things down that I was able to remember. Days later, I had the first pages written and the ideas that I had dreamed about had become the characters in my first book. Those characters are the basis for the first series I've written, The Destined Ones Series, about a people called Aeveren who have lived side by side with humans since almost the beginning of recorded time. The first book in that series, Stolen Destiny, was published in June.
I'm still working on The Destined Ones books, and I look forward to what my imagination has waiting for me next. The second book about Aeveren, Destiny Redeemed, is scheduled to be released on October 13. I've finished the Victorian Erotic Romance Trilogy, three erotic novellas set in Victorian England. The first one, Vampire Dreams, is a paranormal erotic romance. The second novella, another erotic romance but an historical, Love's Master, involves some light BDSM. The third novella, Masquerade, is a straight historical, no kink or paranormal. After that, a paranormal romance set in the great city of New Orleans is up in December--Blood Avenged. Anyone who read Vampire Dreams will remember Vasilije, Brandon's sire. Blood Avenged is his story.
After that? Well, I'm in the planning stages of another trilogy, this time maybe novel length, that will come out in 2012. But one thing's for sure: no matter what the story is, it will involve gorgeous, Alpha male heroes; strong heroines; and steamy romance!
Just added this to my wishlist. I'm a sucker for stories where a bad guy gets redeemed, and I really enjoyed that excerpt.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for being a part of Destiny Redeemed's tour and having Amon here today.
ReplyDelete-Gabrielle
I already got my copy. This is a wonderful story with well-drawn characters, such a sensual and romantic read.
ReplyDeleteGreat post and the story sounds awesome. Can't wait to read it.
ReplyDeletemythic021@gmail.com
Great post and fun blog tour. I always love to find new blogs. Would love to win and read this book, so please choose me for the giveaway. I love to read and always looking for new books and authors to check out.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chance to win.
christinebails@yahoo.com