QSFer Zev de Valera has a new historical fantasy book out, book 2 in his Amenhotep series:
A new relationship. An ancient ring that you’ve slipped upon your finger. So far, so good. Life is looking up. But then you uncover the mystery surrounding that golden ring. Your life will never be the same.
So it is for veterinarian Julian Wingate. Struggling to come to terms with the ancient power which can be wielded by the Talisman Ring of Amenhotep, Julian must work to hold together his relationship with his lover, Dinesh Daas, who harbors his own dark secrets, while battling his nemesis, the mercurial Directrix, for control of the alien science at the heart of the Talisman Ring’s history.
Excerpt
Amenhotep dipped the strip of soft cotton in the scented water and then wiped the hot forehead of his recumbent lover. Amenhotep was tired. Tired in both body and spirit. He had tended to Nergal for weeks now, while the other man languished in a torpid state between this world and the next. Amenhotep reached out and caressed the feathers of Nergal’s black wings; no longer the supple, silky structures they had once been. He recalled the first time Nergal had mounted him, gathering him up gently in the ebony fronds, holding him close, and entering him. Claiming him. Amenhotep held back a sob as he looked upon the shrunken husk of what had so recently been a strapping, powerful youth. The last of his people. So kind and strong.
“Nergal!” Amenhotep cried, letting the hurt and pain burst free as he uttered his lover’s name in a keening lament.
Stirring slightly at the sound of Amenhotep’s distress, Nergal worked his mouth as if trying to form words.
“What, my love?” asked Amenhotep breathlessly. ‘What do you need? Only speak and it shall be done.”
Nergal’s dark tongue struggled out in a vain attempt to moisten his parched lips.
“The box,” he croaked, “You must tend to the box…protect it.”
“I do not understand,” Amenhotep said, stroking the cold skin of Nergal’s arm. Colder. Ever colder. “Of what box do you speak?”
“The rings,” whispered Nergal. “The rings of Tiamat.” He breathed a rattling breath and Amenhotep feared the worst, leaning close to Nergal’s mouth. “They are only to be worn by those of the blood,” Nergal continued, “or those who have received the seed of my people.” Nergal cried out and arched his back, his feathers crumbling like ash beneath him. “Within the tomb of my mother shall you find the box. Guard it and keep it. Shelter the rings until they are ready to accept the truth.”
Buy Links
MLR Press: http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=ZVORIGNS
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Origins-Talisman-Ring-Amenhotep-Book-ebook/dp/B00SEL4BZ2/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Author Bio
Zev de Valera is the author of The Ultimate Submission, an erotic coming of age story, as well as The Talisman Ring of Amenhotep, a romantic adventure trilogy. Book two in the series, Origins, is available on Amazon and other on-line retailers.Book three , Destiny, is a work in progress. Zev is also hard at work on a new novel, Surabaya, inspired by the Kurt Weill song Surabaya Johnny.