September 27, 2022
An ancient goddess grows more desperate to escape the bounds that keep her imprisoned. . .
A man whose lands have always been fertile and bountiful even in times of strife and drought. . .
The woman whose secret could destroy his dreams and force him into the waiting hands of the evil one..
Tolan’s family has had a strong bond with the farmlands he tends and he keeps the truth of it secret. For generations, his ancestors worshipped the ancient gods and oversaw their lands. Now, darkness is gathering, and Tolan is drawn into an evil nobleman’s plot to destroy his enemies. When his lover Elethea is targeted, too, he must choose one side or the other.
Elethea’s healing skills are known widely, but when the arrival of strangers cause the power in her blood to surge, she discovers it is more than simply knowledge of the healing arts. The only one she cannot seem to heal is herself and her inability to give Tolan the children he needs is keeping her from committing to him and to a future together.
Now, as the evil one gathers its minions and threaten all that Tolan and Elethea hold dear, will they choose the side of humanity or choose the enemy who even now holds their future in his hands?
"4 Stars! HOT – Danger has been ramping up in Brisbin’s excellent Stone Circle fantasy romance series, as unprepared descendants of the gods must attempt to stop the rising of the imprisoned and wrathful goddess of fire. In this third chapter of the saga, the protagonists face impossible choices that will have immense repercussions. Brisbin continues to elevate the jeopardy in her world while introducing intriguing and complicated new protagonists."
— RT Book Reviews
Elethea looked up from her mending at the soft knock on her door. A more insistent one would have meant one of the villagers needed her attention. This kind signaled only one thing to her—the arrival of Tolan. She placed the torn tunic back into the basket sitting by the small hearth and went to see.
After lifting the latch, she eased the wooden door open a scant inch and glanced outside. In the dark of the night, he stood there outlined by the full moon’s light, taller than most men in the village. She recognized his form at once.
He nodded and, in that deep tone of voice that never failed to send whispers of heat through her, Tolan greeted her. “Elethea, how do you fare?”
She wanted to laugh. His words were so commonplace, as though his arrival at her cottage in the hour when most of the village slept followed the way things were in Amesbury. Elethea did not doubt for a moment that many knew of their assignations. Still. . .
“I am well, Tolan.” She stepped back and opened the door wider. “And how was your journey?” He’d been away, seeing to their lord’s concerns for almost a fortnight.
He’d accepted the invitation as he always did—in a calm, even manner. She doubted that anyone who’d met him, save for possibly his dead wife, had ever seen the passion that lived within his composed exterior. But Elethea had glimpsed it once in the fields, observing him as he’d tended to his lands and then every time he’d joined her in her bed.
Before closing the door, she took the small lantern from the rock that sat beside it and brought light inside. It had been her signal to others that she was still awake and could help them. With Tolan’s arrival though, she wished no interruptions.
He stood in the middle of the room, his head nearly touching the roof above. And he watched her with a dark intensity that her body understood. “I am well.” He loosened his cloak and tossed it over a bench against the wall.
“But I have missed you, Thea.” He crossed the distance between them in two strides and pulled her into his arms. “I have missed you greatly.”
His mouth captured hers, and she gave herself over to him, waiting for the passion within him to overwhelm the calm control he exuded. Two weeks without him left her restless and needing his touch. Needing the taste of him. Needing the strength and passion he would show her.
He took her breath away even as he kissed her that first time. By the second and third and fourth kisses, she lost the ability to stand. Tolan slid his arms around her, holding her up and drawing her close.
“I think you have missed me, too,” he whispered.
He kissed down her throat and used his teeth on that sensitive spot just near her shoulder. She arched against him, aroused by everything he did. His answer was to slide his hand down, caressing the fullness of her breast and then over her stomach until he reached. . .
The sigh escaped as he grazed his hand over the junction of her thighs. Another as he rubbed harder there, the friction and pressure of his touch even through her garments caused her body to heat and weep its own moisture. She ached now, worse than the moment before, and she pressed against his hand, begging for more.
“End this, Tolan,” she whimpered out as his fingers slid between her legs, all the while continuing to caress and press the place where she wanted . . . him.
“Ah,” he whispered after he’d claimed her mouth another time, “I think you have missed me greatly, Thea.”
Elethea held her breath and his gaze as his hand slid down her gown and gathered it up. His fingers on her skin made her shiver, her body tensing in anticipation. Then, he moved slowly up her thigh and she panted with each inch closer. When his fingers slipped into the sensitive heated folds there, her head fell back and she gasped at the pleasure of it.
His mouth on her neck made her shiver again, and she reached up to untie her own laces, wanting his tongue on her breasts. He chuckled, understanding the madness he was causing, and when she’d somehow managed to loosen the edge of her gown and tug it down, his mouth was there, tasting and nipping along her skin.
He ceased neither his mouth nor his hand, pushing her body toward the edge of control. Somehow they’d moved a few paces, and now she felt the wall behind her, giving her support as he relentlessly pleasured her. He lifted his mouth from her and caught her gaze. She knew what he would do now. He liked to watch her face as she reached completion.
Her body wound tighter and tighter until she could not breathe or speak. He forced moan after moan from her until the tightness exploded within her and she arched against his hand over and over. Tolan’s fingers teased that small bud within the folds until she could do nothing but feel wave after wave of pleasure coursing through her body as her release occurred.
Tolan watched the way her eyes glazed over in passion as he stroked her deep and fast. Her body reacted in ways she probably did not even know, but he could see them and feel them and even smell them. His hand between her legs grew wet with her arousal and the bud beneath his finger stiffened, much like his own cock did.
Her mouth grew rounder, and she licked her lips as her body kept pace with his hand. When he brought her to release, her gasps grew stronger and louder until she screamed out in the quietness of her cottage.
His body throbbed and ached for its own release, but this time was for her. It had been too long. Too many nights without being inside of her body and finding that moment of joining and complete pleasure. He held her there, pressed against the wall, his hand sliding in gentle caresses as her body eased down from the height of passion. When she sighed, he smiled and kissed her one more time.
“I have a perfectly comfortable bed right over there,” she said, nodding behind him.
“Aye, you do.” He nodded as he spoke. “But I could not wait.”
Tolan removed his hand and let her gown fall. She did not cover her breasts , and he wanted to lean over and suckle the rose-colored nipples. He would. And she would scream again for him many more times before dawn’s light brightened the sky and woke the village.
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