Warrior Witch (The Malediction Trilogy #3)(112)

“Yes?” His face betrayed none of the nervousness I knew to be roiling through him.

“You say you saw all?” I cocked one eyebrow, then smiled as I felt his nerves turn to faint embarrassment. “As I recall, some things are better…” I paused, giving him a slow smile, “face to face.”

“I could not agree more,” he replied, embarrassment turning into something far better. Then his arms were around me, his lips on mine, and the feel of them – of him – was infinitely sweeter than memory.

Pulling him down onto grass like velvet, I lost myself in him. In the love that had consumed me for so much of my life. A love that I’d feared would always be colored with the bittersweet tarnish of loss. An echo of a song. But now, against all hope, that love was polished clean and new as it had been in those first days we’d fallen.

My mortal life was over.

But our immortal life had just begun.





Acknowledgments


I’ve faced a unique set of challenges with the writing of each of my novels, but one constant has been carving time out of each day to put words on the page. Never, however, has that been more difficult than the six months I spent plucking Warrior Witch from this sleep-deprived, new mother’s mind. With great certainty, I can say that this novel would be a half-finished mess of words on the page without the support of my family. An enormous amount of thanks must go to my parents, Carol and Steve, for providing endless hours of babysitting, and to my mother-in-law, Pat, for swooping in during those moments when I was falling asleep on my feet. Most especially, I must thank my other half, Spencer, for waking up at 5am everyday so that I didn’t have to, and for ensuring that I ate more than just pizza and granola bars.

Gratitude, as always, must go to my utterly amazing agent, Tamar Rydzinski, who always goes above and beyond the call of duty. A big thanks to intern Rachael for her summarization skills, and to Laura Dail, for always being an enormous support. To my publishing team at Angry Robot: Phil, Marc, Mike, Penny, and Caroline, thank you so much for all the hard work you’ve done to ensure the success of my novels.

Thanks goes to Donna, for getting me out of my pyjamas and out of the house, and to Carleen and Gena for texting me things that had nothing to do with novels so that I remembered there was a world outside my writing cave. Lots of love to my brother, Nick – you are the consummate salesman and I owe you one.

Last, but not least, I must express a huge amount of gratitude to the book-bloggers and reviewers who have been such an enormous support to me and my novels, but most particularly to Melissa (@StolenSongbird) who picked up my social media slack while I was struggling to finish this novel. And the biggest thanks of all goes to the readers who have stuck with me through to the end – I hope you loved every minute of it.





About the Author


Danielle L Jensen was born and raised in Calgary, Canada. At the insistence of the left side of her brain, she graduated in 2003 from the University of Calgary with a bachelor’s degree in finance. But the right side of her brain has ever been mutinous; and in 2010, it sent her back to school to complete an entirely impractical English literature degree at Mount Royal University and to pursue publication. Much to her satisfaction, the right side shows no sign of relinquishing its domination.