In the Company of the Dead
Author: Ciara Ballintyne
Genre: Fantasy Romance (epic)
Book Description:
Ellaeva’s obligations to the death goddess leave her no time to hunt down her parents’ murderer—until both duty and revenge lead her to the lonely castle where Lyram Aharris has been exiled for striking his prince. As the castle falls under siege, Ellaeva and Lyram must fight to save themselves from political machinations and clashing gods—but the greatest threat comes from an unexpected quarter.
Author: Ciara Ballintyne
Genre: Fantasy Romance (epic)
Book Description:
Ellaeva’s obligations to the death goddess leave her no time to hunt down her parents’ murderer—until both duty and revenge lead her to the lonely castle where Lyram Aharris has been exiled for striking his prince. As the castle falls under siege, Ellaeva and Lyram must fight to save themselves from political machinations and clashing gods—but the greatest threat comes from an unexpected quarter.
Excerpt
His horse carried him past the girl. She was nothing but a flash of black dress and white face as he jumped. The enemy rider’s eyes opened wide an instant before Lyram caught him around the shoulders. In a tumble of legs and arms, they spilled over the horse’s rump.
Lyram crashed to the ground, knocking the breath from him and grass whipping his face. Gasping, he forced himself to his knees, then wobbled to his feet.
The woman stood observing the spectacle. Though the soldier had struck the ground mere feet from her and was already on his feet, moving towards her, her face reflected only a resigned calmness.
The man reached for her with his free hand. Time oozed with the slowness of poured honey.
“No!” Lyram choked the word into a strangled gasp, and broke into an unsteady run.
One step.
The girl brought one long-fingered white hand up in a gesture of—what? Supplication? Forestalling? Defence even.
Two steps.
The soldier seized her by the wrist. With her other hand, she reached out and touched the boiled leather plate over his chest.
Three steps.
The sword dropped from the soldier’s fingers. In one fluid motion, he crumpled at the knees and fell face-first into the knee-high grass.
Time snapped back to normal, and Lyram skidded to a stop over the motionless soldier.
The fallen man didn’t move a muscle. Dropping to one knee, Lyram reached for the man’s neck, seeking a pulse—but he stopped before touching him. The skin was blue with such intense cold that it chilled his fingers where they hovered several inches short of contact. He let his hand drop back to his side.
A shadow darkened the dim, rainy haze of the morning and he glanced up. A colourless face loomed over him, alabaster skin, midnight hair made all the darker by contrast, and eyes so black the pupils could barely be distinguished. What he’d taken for a homespun peasant dress was instead the billowing black robes of a priestess of Ahura.
Lyram crashed to the ground, knocking the breath from him and grass whipping his face. Gasping, he forced himself to his knees, then wobbled to his feet.
The woman stood observing the spectacle. Though the soldier had struck the ground mere feet from her and was already on his feet, moving towards her, her face reflected only a resigned calmness.
The man reached for her with his free hand. Time oozed with the slowness of poured honey.
“No!” Lyram choked the word into a strangled gasp, and broke into an unsteady run.
One step.
The girl brought one long-fingered white hand up in a gesture of—what? Supplication? Forestalling? Defence even.
Two steps.
The soldier seized her by the wrist. With her other hand, she reached out and touched the boiled leather plate over his chest.
Three steps.
The sword dropped from the soldier’s fingers. In one fluid motion, he crumpled at the knees and fell face-first into the knee-high grass.
Time snapped back to normal, and Lyram skidded to a stop over the motionless soldier.
The fallen man didn’t move a muscle. Dropping to one knee, Lyram reached for the man’s neck, seeking a pulse—but he stopped before touching him. The skin was blue with such intense cold that it chilled his fingers where they hovered several inches short of contact. He let his hand drop back to his side.
A shadow darkened the dim, rainy haze of the morning and he glanced up. A colourless face loomed over him, alabaster skin, midnight hair made all the darker by contrast, and eyes so black the pupils could barely be distinguished. What he’d taken for a homespun peasant dress was instead the billowing black robes of a priestess of Ahura.
About the Author
Ciara Ballintyne grew up on a steady diet of adult epic fantasy from the age of nine, leaving her with a rather confused outlook on life – she believes the good guys should always win, but knows they often don’t. She is an oxymoron; an idealistic cynic.
She began her first attempts at the craft of writing in 1992, culminating in the publication of her debut work, Confronting the Demon, in 2013. Her first book to be published with Evolved Publishing is In the Company of the Dead.
She holds degrees in law and accounting, and is a practising financial services lawyer. In her spare time, she speculates about taking over the world – how hard can it really be? If she could be anything, she’d choose a dragon, but if she is honest she shares more in common with Dr. Gregory House of House M.D. – both the good and the bad. She is a browncoat, a saltgunner, a Whedonite, a Sherlockian, a Ringer and a Whovian… OK, most major geek fandoms. Her alignment is chaotic good. She is an INTJ.
Ciara lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband, her two daughters, and a growing menagerie of animals that unfortunately includes no dragons.
She began her first attempts at the craft of writing in 1992, culminating in the publication of her debut work, Confronting the Demon, in 2013. Her first book to be published with Evolved Publishing is In the Company of the Dead.
She holds degrees in law and accounting, and is a practising financial services lawyer. In her spare time, she speculates about taking over the world – how hard can it really be? If she could be anything, she’d choose a dragon, but if she is honest she shares more in common with Dr. Gregory House of House M.D. – both the good and the bad. She is a browncoat, a saltgunner, a Whedonite, a Sherlockian, a Ringer and a Whovian… OK, most major geek fandoms. Her alignment is chaotic good. She is an INTJ.
Ciara lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband, her two daughters, and a growing menagerie of animals that unfortunately includes no dragons.
Author Links:
***GIVEAWAY***
Book Blast Organised by:
thank you for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure :-)
DeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThe book description and excerpt sounds intriguing. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I've poured so much into this book :-)
Deletewhat types of animals do you have?
ReplyDeleteTwo cats and three guinea pigs, with a dog likely on the cards later this year. There are long-term plans for horses, and maybe alpacas. I've been told no for miniature goats :-(
DeleteI like the tag line. Now I'm intrigued to see how they cross Gods and what they want to dare do it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I'm particularly proud of this one :-)
DeleteThis book sounds really good, I love fantasy romance novels. Beautiful cover work as well.
ReplyDeleteI should warn it's an epic fantasy romance or a dark fantasy romance (depending on who you ask!), so there are strong epic fantasy/dark fantasy themes alongside the romance. Dark fantasy romance almost sounds counter-intuitive to me, but to be honest it's probably most accurate.
DeleteThe artist will be delighted, thank you :-)
what inspired you to write this book?
ReplyDeleteMy writers' group went through a stage where we'd challenge the group to write short stories for the next meeting based on some kind of inspiration. The inspiration for that meeting came from randomly scanning the titles on the shelves of the bookstore where we met, and it was David Kowalski's military sci fi 'The Company of the Dead'. I gave it a dark fantasy twist, and made it 'In the Company of the Dead' (the title has multiple connotations throughout the book, whereby 'In' is quite important to the meaning), and it was originally intended to be a prequel short story to a an epic series idea I had. Instead, I rewrote it as this novel and made it the first in the series.
DeleteThanks for the chance to win and for hosting.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure :-)
DeleteThanks for the chance to win and for hosting.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting this giveaway :)
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure :-)
Deletethanks a lot! :-) I really love Fantasy Romance books
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure. Just be aware there are strong dark fantasy themes alongside the romance :-)
DeleteThis book sounds epically awesome. Love it!
ReplyDeleteIn the company of the dead sounds like a good read ♡ Thank you
ReplyDeleteThe cover is super cool!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds really good. Love the cover work.
ReplyDeleteAn intriguing title and equally intriguing story premise! Very epic story!
ReplyDelete