Dangerous Fascinations by Isabelle

To celebrate the release of the first book of my YA fantasy series, The Guardian’s Mark, I’ve decided to offer an exclusive excerpt as today’s freebie! 🙂

Though the book doesn’t officially release until April 17th (tax day!), early copies are available in print! For those looking to download onto their Nook and Kindle, keep your eyes open for the link which I’ll be sure to post as soon as its live. 😉

Either way, Happy Friday, folks!

IT WAS WRONG to stare. She knew that. She just couldn’t help herself. Some irrational part of her thought if she looked hard enough she’d see something new.

She was wrong. Everything about Kieran remained exactly the same, as closely guarded as the very first day he arrived.

She thought she’d gotten through to him out in the courtyard a few weeks back. She’d felt the little crack, caught the smile he’d tried so hard to suppress. But just as quickly, he’d built his walls back up. Now, it was nearly impossible to get through the thick emotional armor he hid behind.

Kieran shifted uncomfortably. Amaya looked away. He must have felt her prying eyes.

She turned the page of the book in front of her. The words looked foreign. She had no idea what she was reading.

Taking a chance, she peered at him from over the cover. He hadn’t moved. He still sat all alone, his eyes focused on something outside the library window. The longing etched on his face was almost too painful to bear. Amaya bit her lip, anxious to think of something to say.

He sighed. She didn’t have to open her empathic connection to know just how unhappy he was. She could hear it. Her stomach clenched. She hated how helpless she felt. Wasn’t there anything she could do or say to make him feel at home? Or at the very least, to put a more permanent smile on his face?

“Are you done examining me?”

Amaya’s eyes widened. “What?”

“You’re staring at me.”

Awake, She Dreams by Isabelle

He came to me on a day like any other. My brothers were causing mischief in the sleepy town below the hill, while I spent my endless hours chanting through empty, cobwebbed corridors and doing pirouettes across the mahogany floors of the abandoned ballroom in the manor, overgrown with moss and vines.

The only people I ever saw were those that came at my Uncle’s command, and they were often too bereaved to sing and dance with me. All they wanted was a drink, and so I dutifully walked them to the flowing river that cut through our grounds and let them gorge themselves with water until their memories washed away with the currents of the smoky Lethe. Then, and only then, would my darling twin brother appear, in all of his somber glory, to walk them back through the land from which they came, back to my Uncle.

A Perfect Pause by Isabelle

“I thought I’d find you here.”

As usual, his rich baritone caused a warmth to blossom in her chest, across her cheekbones, to the very tips of her ears. Each step he took toward her changed the earth around them, brightening the hazy skies, making the air feel as crisp and cool as it tasted. Darkened, multicolored leaves fell from the thinning trees and crunched beneath his feet, a final gasp of life as they surrendered to the Fall.

She closed her eyes and winced against the sound.