Audio listeners please don’t forget that the ‘Ironwood’ collection is out tomorrow May 9th where ever you listen! It’s like 27 hours long so you’re going to get huge value for money with your Audible credit that’s for sure! It turned out so well and I couldn’t be more thrilled.
Need more Fae Universe because 27 hours isn’t enough? SURPRISE!
The King of the Sea himself is going to be launching on May 19th! I was going to wait until June but when I found out it was MerMay, my imp brain kicked in and I knew I just had to release it. I mean, Mananan would hate it, but I think it’s hilarious.
Here is a blurb!
Magic between the seas of Faerie and Albion needs to be healed, and it’s up to one surly fae king and a lighthouse keeper with a strange gift to get the job done.
Mananan has to fix the oceans between Faerie and the human world to stop them both from dying. With a god killing sword and a willingness to use it, he’s more than up to the task of defeating any monsters their enemies throw at him. The problem is, he needs to find the altars that are sucking the magic from the sea, and he has no idea where to start looking.
Ella’s magical talent for seeing visions whenever she touches something has ensured she lives in seclusion and privacy. That is, right up until a kraken attacks her light house, and she is saved by Mananan. Being indebted to one of the fae is a dangerous business, but Ella has no choice. She has a skill they need to find the altars, and there’s something about her that Mananan can’t resist.
As they battle to save both worlds from a growing darkness, they’ll discover that their love for each other is the strongest magic of all.
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Awwww. I had so much fun writing this story! Big monsters and even bigger swords (teehee) and all sorts of delicious chaos.
You can grab the pre-order here or keep reading for a sneaky Prologue and Chapter One!
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Prologue
Many stories were told about the lost fae kings. Some whispered that they were godlike warriors of old and wielders of magic and mighty weapons. Most of those stories were true.
Oberon, king of forests, had restored the magic flow to the land of Albion and was working to seed the forests of lost life. Spring was blooming early, and it was because his power saturated the world once more. The land was healing, and now it was time for the seas to be cleansed.
There was no greater mystery than what truly lay in the depths of the sea and all the strange creatures that dwelled in its darkness.
Its master, Mananan, was no exception to this rule.
Mananan, wielder of the magical sword, Fragarach, that could drain an enemy of their strength with one powerful blow and create wounds that would never heal.
Mananan, sailor of the magical ship Sguaba Tuinne that could sail through the veils separating the worlds.
There was no doubt that the king of the seas could achieve all the things the prophecy demanded of him—destroy the altars built by their ancient enemies, the Fomorians, restore the sea’s lost plants and creatures, and fix the gateways in the depths that connected Albion back to Faerie. Only once those things were achieved, would magic and life flow through the oceans of both worlds again.
The problem wasn’t Mananan’s skills and abilities to make all things right. The problem was he had no idea where to start.
Chapter One
Lightning flashed above the churning night sea. Under the water, beyond the roiling waves, the darkness was undisturbed.
Blessed silence, Mananan thought as he floated weightlessly. He loved his family, and being reunited with them was a joy he hadn’t thought he would ever experience again.
But gods spare him, they were loud.
Mananan tightened the grip on his harpoon, his meditative state an illusion. He was hunting, and the best talent a hunter could learn was patience.
He was back on the eastern coast of England, not far from where Chrissy had cleared a cave full of altars to the Fomorians.
Christiana, Oberon’s incredible mate, who was bursting with new magic and had a smile that burned as hot as a summer sun.
A mate. At his age. It was obscene.
Mananan still couldn’t get over it; he’d been so shocked. He was happy for his elder brother, but underneath the happiness was confusion. They had all thought that they were too old for mates, that the gods had bestowed them with other blessings that didn’t include them. Oberon was proof that they had all been wrong.
It was…worrying. Mananan wouldn’t get his hopes up about finding his own mate. He refused to. He couldn’t deny that when he watched Oberon and Christiana together, he felt a twinge of longing. It was an ache in a part of himself that he hadn’t known he possessed. He refused to hope, and yet…
Mananan dismissed all those kinds of thoughts from his head. He didn’t have time to search for his mate. He had remnants of horde creatures to kill and his part of the prophecy to fulfil. It was why he was back in the waters of Ravenscar.
He’d searched the area when he had first come back to the place with his brothers a few months ago. He hadn’t found Fomorian spells or horde creatures in the waters.
Uncertainty kept drawing him back. He’d missed something. It was hidden, but he felt it. A distortion, a vibration in the water like something was there, but he couldn’t see it.
A ripple of dark magic brushed against him, and Mananan’s eyes snapped open. He exploded into action, swimming through the water to follow the trail. He had felt the same darkness when hunting horde creatures off the coast of Wales recently.
His nephew Killian and his mate, Bron, had been right when they said that they couldn’t keep up with hunting them because they bred so quickly. Mananan was more than happy to help thin the herds of the infernal creatures. They ruined any ecosystem they lived in and needed to be eradicated.
Help me!
Mananan halted at the strange voice, water swirling around him. Usually, he only heard his brother Taranis’s voice telepathically.
What in the gods… Darkness and cold fear that wasn’t his own washed over him.
Mananan breached the surface of the water. Through the rain and wild winds, he saw a small lighthouse and wrapped around it was the biggest horde kraken he’d ever seen. It was as if a crab had mated with an octopus, with its main body covered in black shell.
Thick, black tentacles tightened around the lighthouse like they were trying to pull it into the sea.
Mananan swam for it, his magic curling about him. As soon as he got close enough, he released his power, and a funnel of water flung him from the waves. He sailed through the air, his harpoon raised high over his head and landed on the horde creature’s outer shell. He drove the tip of the harpoon into one of its eyes, making it screech in fury. Mananan pulled the blade free, dodged a tentacle, and blinded its other eye.
A sharp scream almost had him toppling off the beast. One of the creature’s tentacles plucked a woman from the top of the lighthouse balcony. She was hanging by her ankles above the churning sea.
“Fuck,” Mananan growled. That was just what he needed. He took a long knife from his leg sheath and cut off the next tentacle that went for him.
The creature was holding the woman out of reach as its entire attention was on Mananan. He pulled his harpoon free once more and summoned his strength. Magic burned through the weapon, making it glow with a pale blue light.
With a roar, he stabbed the harpoon into the soft place under the edge of the kraken’s shell as hard as he could. The weapon buried deep, and magic dragged it down into the creature’s brain. Its tentacles spasmed and shuddered as it curled in on itself. Its death cry was an enraged howl, and it shot backwards into the water. Mananan swore again as it dragged the screaming woman with it instead of releasing her.
Mananan dived off the back of the creature and into the dark waves. He scanned the water and heard the woman thrashing. He spotted a bright flash of silver hair, and he swam for it.
The woman was trying to claw at the tentacle around her leg, her movements sluggish as her air ran out. She flailed around wildly, but Mananan grabbed her face and breathed a mouthful of air into her lungs. She stopped fighting him and went for the tentacle again. He pushed her hands aside and cut the tentacle with his dagger. She kicked her leg free and tried to make for the surface. Mananan grabbed her around the waist and carried her the rest of the way.
They broke the surface, the woman inhaling and coughing so raggedly, Mananan could hear it over the storm. He held on to her and made for the shoreline.
The lighthouse was situated on a rocky point, but a small stretch of beach curved around it. The woman stopped struggling, her strength gone as the cold water chilled her. She was unconscious by the time Mananan got her to the sand.
“Woman! Wake up!” he said, giving her a shake. He could feel her lungs still breathing under his hands. She had come from the lighthouse, so that was where he would take her.
Mananan sheathed his dagger and hoisted the woman up into his arms. Playing rescuer hadn’t been on his list of things to do that night, but he had saved her, so he was responsible for her.
Mananan banged on the door of the house at the base of the lighthouse. When no one answered, he kicked the door in.
Inside was warm from a blazing fire. Mananan carried the woman over to a couch and laid her on it. She was a tiny thing, the dark blue wool sweater she was wearing swam on her, and she looked so damn pale. He took off the wet jumper so she would warm up faster in front of the fire.
He checked her breathing again, which was steady, and made sure no water was in her mouth. He couldn’t feel any lumps on her head, so he pulled a blanket off an armchair and placed it over her.
“You’ll be okay, little lighthouse keeper,” he told her. He placed another log on the fire, and with one final check that her heart was still beating, he stepped back out into the storm.
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Need more? Grab the pre-order, and don’t worry it will be in KU like the others. Please also don’t forget to drop me a wee rating on the Zon for ‘Dance of the Forest King’ if you haven’t already. It really does help us indies convince the cosmic horror that is Amazon’s algorithms to show our books to readers.
Alessa x
alessathornauthor.com 