Description:
Maggie does not know she is a Messenger. She has never met her eternal lover. She has never survived a Fallen One. All this changes when a Messenger awakens in the Hall of Records only to die moments later, never to return.
As Maggie sets out to determine why the Messengers are suddenly beginning to die, she crosses paths with the infuriatingly appealing Eran and their story begins.
In this riveting account of Maggie’s first life on earth with Eran, the star-crossed lovers’ romance transpires amidst treacherous enemies, their friends’ resistance, and their own opposing wills. With the odds against her, can Maggie survive long enough to admit the feelings she has so carefully denied?
Messenger is the first prequel to the bestselling Guardian Trilogy – the breathtaking romantic saga about a love that has lasted centuries between a Messenger and her Guardian.
If you enjoy being taken away for a little while by a romantic story set in a paranormal world, check out Laury Falter’s books.
I twisted around in search of Eran.
He stood over a small body lying in an odd position. Its head was facing me and I could see Cedric's face, dirtied with his eyes closed. His back was exposed and the grey appendages were in the midst of sinking into his body.
I looked up to find Eran staring over his shoulder at me, his handsome face contracting into dread.
He spun on his heel and sprinted for me, the fear in him deepening with each step.
As I waited for him, something flowed into my left eye, blinding me. I brought my hand to it and wiped. It was warm and stuck to me. When I pulled away to study whatever it was, a deep crimson color was swathed across my fingers. It collected at the bottom of my hand and dripped, splattering the same color on the dirt at my feet.
Blood…
Lots of it…
I suddenly felt dizzy, weak. I reached for Eran.
He was closer now, having taken to flight, the mist clearing in his wake. Down that narrow grey tunnel he created, at the end of it, something stirred. It left hollowness in my heart.
Cedric wasn't dead.
He was knocked out and beginning to revive.
With Eran facing me, he had no idea.
I searched for my rapier, the one Oleg's brother had given me. Somehow it had made it down the hill, landing a few feet away. The silver in its handle contrasted with the yellow grass, peeking at me from between the dead blades.
I went for it, picking it up, stumbling under its weight.
Then the ground came at me as I fell toward it. But before we could meet, I used the thrust of my fall and sent the rapier through the air.
My toes twisted with the force and my body rotated until I could no longer see Eran or Cedric or the rapier. I was facing the hillside by the time my shoulder and hip slammed into the dirt. But I was smiling because the aim was good. The rapier would hit its target. Eran would be safe.
I was smiling for all these reasons, and because I didn't have the slightest notion how much danger I was actually in.
*****
As Eran's feet left the ground, he found me in the crowd and gave me one final burning look. There was something in his eyes now, not pride at having subdued Jacob or to impress upon me the importance of the lesson he'd just demonstrated. All that seemed to have been forgotten. No, what I saw was intense curiosity. And just before he broke our gaze to adjust his sight on the route they were taking, I was certain that he felt the same way I did…that he wished he understood what had just happened between us.
As the rest of us watched in awed silence, I couldn't help but notice that, in a way similar to the messengers on their arrival, Eran's group departed with the same close-knit familiarity.
"Who are they?" I asked, my head still tilted back.
"Part of a legion," Daniel replied.
Despite my seclusion, I'd heard of legions. There were several of them, each with a primary purpose. "Which one?"
"The one that oversees castigated entities."
"Those who have wronged humankind?"
"Yes, the Fallen Ones," confirmed Daniel.
I'd heard of them, too. In passing.
"And Eran's a part of that legion?"
"No," Daniel said with a subdued chuckle. "Not a part of, the leader of. He's their colonel."
"Colonel?" I said, finally lowering my head.
Eran had been out of sight for a while, but this was the first time I'd felt enough conviction to look away.
"You really have no idea who he is, do you?" Daniel was astonished.
"No."
He didn't reply for what felt like a very long time. "Eran has been credited with keeping the most dangerous entities from committing further atrocious acts while they are sentenced to an eternity on earth."
"You mean his legion has," I corrected him.
"No, I mean Eran. There is a reason why he is renowned. When the most vicious of the Fallen Ones are too much for others in the legion to handle, they request Eran, which is to say that he pursues and restrains those who all others cannot handle."
"That takes skill," Jacob muttered, stretching a kink from his neck.
Daniel chuckled at the understatement. "Some of which you just witnessed…personally," he added.
I didn't share Daniel's humor, being too preoccupied by who I'd just met, and how his attention had been so finely tuned to me. "Do you think he'll be back?"
"Eran?" Daniel said. "It's possible. I've heard every action he makes is deliberate…calculated. He was here with a reason today. If he returns, he'll have a reason then too."
Jacob groaned, evidently not anticipating Eran's return. "Next time you can spar with him."
Daniel chuckled. "I'd think our time would be better spent training the messengers, which is something we should probably return to…," he hinted.
Jacob nodded, rubbing the side of his neck where I remember a vine had hit him. Daniel pitied his friend through a quiet, suppressed laugh, wrapping a friendly arm across Jacob's shoulders and walking him toward the waiting group. But my attention drifted back to the sky where Eran had disappeared.
The anticipation of seeing him again proved too much and my insides were ignited in a way I'd never felt before. That searing pleasure worked its way through my belly, and as much as I wanted to dwell in that sensation, I had to force myself to ignore it. There was work to be done and that feeling was a distraction.
Resigned to concentrate on my task at hand, I joined the messengers shortly after, but not before peering back for one more lingering glance at the sky.
Laury Falter is a bestselling author of young adult romantic suspense and urban fantasy. She has three series out: the Guardian Trilogy, the Residue Series, and the Apocalypse Chronicles.
Thank you for the chancel
ReplyDeleteLook forward to reading your books. Thanks.
ReplyDeletelooks like a good read, i look forward to reading it thank you for the giveaway
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