The first review for Haunted Destiny is in! 5 out of 5 hearts from Night Owl Romance. It is also on of their Reviewer Top Picks. Prologue from Haunted Destiny
Frosthaven, Connecticut 1857
Enya awoke gasping and coughing. She opened her eyes but the smoke was so thick she couldn’t see. Each breath she took drew more acrid black smoke into her lungs as she fought to breathe. Confused she slipped from her bed and yelped as the hot floor burned the soles of her bare feet. Her house was on fire. She squinted and tried to see through the smoke but it burned her eyes causing them to fill with tears.
Enya awoke gasping and coughing. She opened her eyes but the smoke was so thick she couldn’t see. Each breath she took drew more acrid black smoke into her lungs as she fought to breathe. Confused she slipped from her bed and yelped as the hot floor burned the soles of her bare feet. Her house was on fire. She squinted and tried to see through the smoke but it burned her eyes causing them to fill with tears.
There was a pounding on her door. “Enya! Open the door.”
It was her father and she could tell by the slurring of his words that he was drunk, again. Oh Dear Lord, what had he done? Where was her mother and baby brother?
“I can’t get to the door, Father. The floor is too hot.” She coughed as the smoke grew thicker in the room. She had to get out but she didn’t know how. She had to get to her mother and brother. “Where are Mother and Shane?”
Her father pounded on the door again. “Let me in, you wench. I can’t get to you through a locked door.”
After a short pause Enya heard her father slam his body into the door trying to break in but the latch held firm. There was no way he could get in. Her thoughts came rushing at her all at once, fear chilling her in spite of the heat. She processed his words as she’d done so many times before. He did not say “get you out”, he said, “Get to you”. Her heart hammered in her chest. His folly with drink had finally come to demand its recompense. It didn’t matter that her father, the Honorable Judge Frost, was one of the most prominent men in town. When the drink took over he was as mean and low as any of the criminals he put behind bars.
She had to get to Shane and her mother. This thought moved Enya to action. . Even though the floor was hot and would burn her she had to get down below the smoke and get to the door. Bracing for the burning pain she dropped to the floor on her hands and knees and scrambled to the door. Her long wool nightgown protected her knees from the sticky varnish coating heating up on the floor boards, but not her hands. She left pieces of skin behind on her fast trek to the door. Without thinking, Enya reached up and grabbed the copper doorknob. The searing of her flesh ripped a scream from her parched throat drawing even more smoke into her lungs. Cradling her hand she sat down hard on the floor.
To read the rest of this prologue and chapter one visit
No comments:
Post a Comment