Torrent of Tears (Scourge Survivor Series Book 3)(84)
“So, what now?” I asked.
“Now, I fulfill the last promise I made to you. A dance on your birthday.” Tham nodded to someone over my shoulder. The music came up and Bruno Mars started singing, “Count on Me”. Tham waggled his finger, coaxing me, and I went to him, tears streaming, my heart filled to bursting.
“Happy birthday, neelan.” Tham kissed my forehead and whirled me into his arms. My feet barely touched the tiles.
I memorized everything about those three magical minutes. The grace of Tham’s movement as we glided across the polished floor, the way his dimples showed when he laughed, the aroma of suede mixing with the scent of his smooth, ivory skin. And as the song ended, the way his arms felt around me as he hugged me goodbye.
“Amin mela lle, Alexannia Grace.”
“I love you too, Hotness.” He waited while I gathered myself and then led us to our watching family. His smile softened as he raised our joined hands to Rowan. “You are a truly blessed male. Take good care of her. And be patient.”
Rowan cleared his throat. “I absolutely will. And good luck to you.”
I couldn’t watch as Tham walked away and Rowan seemed to know it. He turned me back towards the dance floor and I kept my gaze focused on the windows on the far wall.
“I hate to admit it,” he said, “but that guy is pretty great.”
“The best.” Realizing how insensitive my words were, I glanced up. “I’m gutted by losing Tham, but it’s you I love. You know that, right?”
Rowan nodded, and for the first time I saw that the doubt and hurt he’d carried with him was gone. His eyes burned with the most beautiful flecks of gold and green. “I do.”
I pressed my cheek to Rowan’s side and he draped his arm across my shoulder. The chatter of our family dissipated and we were left alone. I don’t know how long we stayed there, me listening to the thrumming rhythm of his heart beneath my ear. Eventually though, he gathered my hand in his and led me out a door in the opposite direction everyone else had gone.
“Back to what Bruin said earlier . . . I do have another surprise I desperately want to show you.”
The chemistry sparking between us from that first moment ignited once again. My skin tingled to awareness as I jogged to keep up with his determined strides.
“Yay. And as the birthday girl, I get to unwrap my surprise, right?”
THANK YOU FOR READING
I sincerely hope you enjoyed, Torrent of Tears, book three in the five book, Scourge Survivor series. If you’d like to be kept in the loop on my release dates and receive my newsletter, subscribe here: JLMadore Mailing list
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Book Four, Blind Spirit, will be available on Amazon Fall 2017.
I hope you enjoy them all!
If you’d like to read an excerpt from Blind Spirit pages scroll to the next pages.
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May the Fates be kind,
JL Madore
BLIND SPIRIT
Emerging from the Portal Mirror, Galan nodded to the Talon soldiers awaiting the arrival of his family. He prayed made the right decision. Nausea swirled inside him, likely from the magical mode of travel. He feared it to be more.
He both admired and trusted Cowboy and Kobi, but his pregnant mate and his sister were the breath in his very lungs. If there was any chance of danger, he wanted it taken care of before their arrival. “Are you certain the village is secure?”
Cowboy stepped toward him, his southern moniker exaggerated by his loose hipped swagger and the black cowboy hat he always wore. “S’all clear, Highborne. No sign of trouble. No scent of Scourge. We’ve got men posted around the village and Aust has the wolves patrolling the trees. You’re good to go.”
Galan nodded and Cowboy tapped the communicator at his ear. “All is well, Julian. Send them through.”
If not for the spirit ceremony, Galan would never bring Lia back to the Highborne Village. It was, however, their duty to see Tham’s arrangements met. It was also precisely the type of event the Scourge would exploit to recapture his sister.
It was the first time he had allowed Lia to leave the sanctuary of Haven since her rescue eight months earlier. Given any choice, she would be there still.
CHAPTER ONE
The two Elves standing before me were dead—the first I understood, the second I did not.
Verily, I knew Cameron was dead, Aust's father had been killed when Scourge raiders attacked the village. But dressed in suede pants and a fine ivory tunic with his quiver stocked and slung across his back, the male looked as vital and solid standing at the crux of the rivers as he had my entire sixty years of life.
Shifting my gaze over our intimate group, I tried to discern if anyone else saw him. Aust? Elora? At the very least my brother should, Galan being the Sentinel of Souls, after all. Though eight of us had been granted the ability to see Tham's spirit during his Veil ceremony, Tham seemed to be the only spirit the others saw.
“Lia, it is your turn, little one.” Galan gestured to the water’s edge.
Oh, yes. I stepped down the slight slope to the water’s edge, the green leaf-pod I had spent the morning crafting, cupped in my open palms. After choosing the brightest Mallow leaves and the most succulently scented flowers in the rainforest, I wove them as tightly as I could, to honor our fallen brother.