QSFer R. Phoenix has a new MM dark fantasy book out: “Shards of Ice.”
What happens when your rescuer becomes obsessed with you? Even worse, what happens when that rescuer isn’t even human…
Kai’s life has never been easy, and bleeding to death in the snow seems the perfect fated ending to his miserable existence. A beautiful stranger drags him back from death’s door with a touch that is pure magic. Kai soon discovers that such magic lingers when Avery persists in seducing him. He starts to fall for him, but with every sliver of affection he gives Avery, his appreciation for his best friend Tristan gets stripped away to loathing, destroying every chance at love they might have had.
Tristan has been in love with Kai for years, but he’s too afraid to admit it for fear of what Kai’s reaction might be. When the ice prince enters their lives and binds Kai to him with fae magic, it seems like there’s nothing anyone can do about it. But Tristan has his own powers, and he’s determined to save Kai from Avery’s deadly clutches. The only problem is…
Kai might not want to be rescued.
This is a loose M/M retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen.” Please note that it contains emotional and physical abuse as well as knife/bloodplay.
Grim and Sinister Delights is a dark romance series based on classic fairy tales and stories. You will find standalone tales of gay romance that range in darkness and kinks. If you dare to take the challenge, read them all to find yourself lost in a classic that you think you know. These stories are for adult readers and may contain morally ambiguous themes.
Get It At Amazon
Excerpt
Cold seized him to the core, threatening to overwhelm him. The only warmth Kai could find was that of the blood steadily oozing out of him onto the white, white snow next to him. The grime of the sidewalk hadn’t crept through just yet, and the pale handful he took up was so stark in comparison. He didn’t know if he was dying, but surely no one could undergo so much agony and survive.
He whimpered, wishing for Tristan, wishing for anything — even his fucking abusive father and his cunt of a mother, just someone to hold his hand while he bled out.
He wasn’t sure if he even wanted to be saved.
Kai sagged back against the snow, staring up at the sky until a flake whirled into his eye, leaving him trying to rub out the sting of it. But one after another, his body started to become covered in a blanket of it. The pressure he’d placed against his jacket to try to stem the bleeding was lessened now — maybe loss of hope, maybe loss of strength. He didn’t know.
All he knew was that Tristan would be devastated if he didn’t return home.
That was enough to make him try to sit up again, only to cry out in pain and sink back into the snow.
Everyone sane was inside, and no one was going to find him until he was a corpse, blue and frozen with his eyes forever open.
But through the dusting of snow, he could see a figure. He didn’t know what the figure was. An animal, perhaps, or maybe trash bandied about by the wind. He blinked, though, and it started to come into focus.
It was a person.
He nearly wept with relief. “H-help me,” he begged through chattering teeth.
The individual turned out to be a tall man. Kai could make out his features enough to tell that his hair was nearly as pale as the snow dusting his shoulders, and his eyes were so blue they threatened to pierce him to the core.
“Do you want my help?” the man asked, his voice lyrical, soothing somehow.
“Y-yes,” Kai whimpered, though he couldn’t fathom the oddness of the question.
“There will be a price.”
Of course there would be. No one would do anything for free. But he didn’t want to die.
“I’ll pay… pay it.”
Surely he could swallow his pride and ask Tristan for a loan if it meant living.
The man nodded. “So it shall be done,” he stated, his voice oddly formal. He knelt down beside Kai, ripping away the blood-soiled clothing as though they were tissue paper, and examined the wound. “What is your name?”
“Kai,” he said, shivering even more violently now that the wound was fully exposed, now that the wound was spilling even more blood without the layers of cloth between it and the open air.
“Be still, my Kai.”
Author Bio
R. Phoenix (code name: Raissa) has an unhealthy fascination with contrasts: light and dark, humor and pain, heroes and villains, order and chaos. She believes love can corrupt, power can redeem and that the best of intentions can cast shadows while the worst can create light. She agrees with those who say that the truth is best told through fiction — even though fiction has to make sense while reality can be utterly baffling.
Her dark paranormal books explore a world where humanity has become prey, subjugated by “supes” — vampires, werewolves, and witches — who have seized control. They range from romance to dark erotica to horror and everything in between, exploring different aspects of the Fate of the Fallen universe. She’s even published something she calls “playful dark erotica.”
Her tendency to explore dark topics isn’t limited to a supernatural world. Her contemporary romance, Too Close, deals with the difficult topic of domestic violence. She is passionate about the need for greater awareness and understanding of an issue that’s often misunderstood.
She loves chatting with readers, though she often awkwardly rambles. No matter how much she tries to keep her bad and often perverted sense of humor in check, it seems to escape at the most inconvenient moments. (Thanks, universe.) Feel free to friend Raissa on Facebook and chat or send her an email!