Tara Maya has lived in Africa, Europe and Asia. She's pounded sorghum
with mortar and pestle in a little clay village where the jungle meets
the desert, meditated in a Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas and
sailed the Volga river to a secret city that was once the heart of the
Soviet space program. This first-hand experience, as well as research
into the strange and piquant histories of lost civilizations, inspires
her writing. Her terrible housekeeping, however, is entirely the fault
of pixies.
DEADLY INITIATION
A DETERMINED GIRL...
Dindi can't do anything right, maybe because she spends more
time dancing with pixies than doing her chores. Her clan hopes to marry her off
and settle her down, but she dreams of becoming a Tavaedi, one of the powerful
warrior-dancers whose secret magics are revealed only to those who pass a
mysterious Test during the Initiation ceremony. The problem? No-one in Dindi's
clan has ever passed the Test. Her grandmother died trying. But Dindi has a
plan.
AN EXILED WARRIOR...
Kavio is the most powerful warrior-dancer in Faearth, but when
he is exiled from the tribehold for a crime he didn't commit, he decides to
shed his old life. If roving cannibals and hexers don't kill him first, this is
his chance to escape the shadow of his father's wars and his mother's curse.
But when he rescues a young Initiate girl, he finds himself drawn into as
deadly a plot as any he left behind. He must decide whether to walk away or
fight for her... assuming she would even accept the help of an exile.
LINKS
Tara’s blog http://bit.ly/MtlSRJ
Tara’s Twitter http://bit.ly/162sCtE
The Unfinished Song on Facebook http://on.fb.me/1400mMq
Amazon http://amzn.to/15ciwYc
Barnes and Noble http://bit.ly/13yM5Dr
iTunes http://bit.ly/1baddhN
Smashwords http://bit.ly/17zK8Xn
Initiate is free
everywhere except on Barnes and Noble (where it’s $0.99). You can download a
free .epub version via Smashwords.
Excerpt:
Blue-skinned rusalki grappled Dindi under the churning surface
of the river. She could feel their claws dig into her arms. Their
riverweed-like hair entangled her legs when she tried to kick back to the
surface. She only managed to gulp a few breaths of air before they pulled her
under again.
She hadn't appreciated how fast and deep the river was. On her
second gasp for air, she saw that the current was already dragging her out of
sight of the screaming girls on the bank. A whirlpool of froth and fae roiled
between two large rocks in the middle of the river. The rusalka and her sisters
tugged Dindi toward it. Other water fae joined the rusalki. Long snouted
pookas, turtle-like kappas and hairy-armed gwyllions all swam around her,
leading her to the whirlpool, where even more fae swirled in the whitewater.
"Join our circle, Dindi!" the fae voices gurgled
under the water. "Dance with us forever!"
"No!" She kicked and swam and stole another gasp for
air before they snagged her again. There were so many of them now, all pulling
her down, all singing to the tune of the rushing river. She tried to shout,
"Dispel!" but swallowed water instead. Her head hit a rock,
disorienting her. She sank, this time sure she wouldn't be coming up again.
"Dispel!" It was a man's voice.
Strong arms encircled her and lifted her until her arms and
head broke the surface. Her rescuer swam with her toward the shore. He
overpowered the current, he shrugged aside the hands of the water faeries
stroking his hair and arms. When he reached the shallows, he scooped Dindi into
his arms and carried her the rest of the way to the grassy bank. He set her
down gently.
She coughed out some water while he supported her back.
"Better?" he asked.
She nodded. He was young--only a few years older than she. The
aura of confidence and competence he radiated made him seem older. Without
knowing quite why, she was certain he was a Tavaedi.
"Good." He had a gorgeous smile. A wisp of his dark
bangs dangled over one eye. He brushed his dripping hair back over his head.
Dindi's hand touched skin--he was not wearing any shirt. Both
of them were sopping wet. On him, that meant trickles of water coursed over a
bedrock of muscle. As for her, the thin white wrap clung transparently to her
body like a wet leaf. She blushed.
"It might have been easier to swim if you had let go of
that," he teased. He touched her hand, which was closed around something.
"What were you holding onto so tightly that it mattered more than
drowning?"
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