QSFer Geneva Vand has a new MM paranormal / fantasy book out: Repairing Destiny.
The magic that was gifted to Prince Avery’s family has always been a part of his life. When he was fifteen, that magic marked him as the heir to the throne. Ever since, he’s known that someday that same magic will lead him to his true love and a magical bond that will tie them together.
Avery knows that even magically destined love will still take work and love is always complicated, especially for a royal. He’s prepared for some complications, like his destined bonded being politically challenging or a gender he’s not romantically attracted to. He’s not prepared for poachers, broken magic, and a surly but intriguing cat shifter that threatens to break his heart.
Avery is convinced that the two of them can find their happily ever after, but Kael is hurting and resistant. How can Avery convince Kael to believe in the magic when Kael’s own magic is so broken?
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Excerpt
Prologue
The Pertinent Background Information
Once upon a time there was a handsome elven prince…
No, no, I’m just joking. I’m not an elven prince.
But I am a prince. And I do belong to a royal line that has some, ah…we’ll call them peculiarities.
You see, it all goes back to an ancestor that actually was an elven prince. He married my great-great-great-etc. grandmother Charlotte. She was human, like the majority of my ancestors. She also happened to be the queen of a very human country called Sollendan.
Various factions were angered by the marriage. Some were angry because an outsider was on the throne. Some were angry because Charlotte was human and her new husband was not. Some were angry…well some weren’t actually angry; they just wanted an excuse to make trouble. Challenges were made. So forth and so on.
He—his name was Jasper by the way—had a few tricks, so everything was fine until after he died of alarmingly old age. His great-great-grandson, Eric, inherited the throne. (Did I mention the alarmingly old age?) Everything stayed fine for a while. Such a long reign, when done well, tends to lead to stability, after all. Unfortunately, the court finally realized that Eric had a bit of magic he’d inherited from dear old grand-da.
Apparently, this was a problem. I’m still not sure why. I mean, one would think this would be a logical conclusion, right?
After a frankly obscene number of assassination attempts against the newly crowned King Eric, the relatives became a little annoyed. I’m rather thankful I wasn’t there. I’ve never seen an angry elf, and I never want to because they are scary, scary folk.
So what did the magical, angry, frightening people do? They cursed us. I mean, they blessed us. And then they sent Eric out into the middle of nowhere to find a dragon lady to fall in love with.
Don’t look at me like that. It’s complicated, alright?
What it comes down to is that every heir since Eric has had a magical, shapeshifting, destined life partner, sort of but not quite a soulmate, if you like, that will show up or be found or some such before the current ruling pair dies.
My ancestors didn’t stop there, though. The magic doesn’t just lead us to the right person; it also gives the ruling couple a magical bond, or tether, which gives the two insight into each other. How much insight is particular to each couple, and everyone is frustratingly vague on even the slightest details. I can respect that because it’s very personal, but I would also like to know more than that my future bonded will probably not be able to hear my thoughts.
Anyway…
The idea is that this partner acts as a sort of built-in bodyguard for the royal couple. It’s much harder to kill someone when their bodyguard is utterly devoted to them and happens to share their bed.
Well, there have been two couples who decided to skip the, ah, romantic part and be platonic life partners, but they still shared a suite and acted as a united pair. If anyone other than the servants knew, they didn’t care. And since any would-be assassins wound up just as dead, the royal family didn’t care either.
The whole arrangement works surprisingly well, honestly.
We’re still magic. We’re still rulers—and competent ones at that. Every once in a while, a purist faction tries to kill us and gets important parts bit off by a pissed off dragon or wolf or griffin or what have you.
The assassination attempts used to happen more frequently, but the shock has rather worn off at this point. That, and there are enough people in the general population with…interesting quirks, we’ll say, handed down from royal indiscretions or through distant familial ties to the throne that we’re all rather over it. Now if people try to kill us, it’s usually politics or money or something much more traditional and mundane.
But I’m getting sidetracked. Because all of that is fine. It’s good. The family had some issues, so we got this blessing. All done. It’s amazing. I’m the crown prince, and I get to meet some magical creature out of legend who is perfect for me, and I’ll fall in love with them and live happily ever after.
There’s just one potential problem. I am absolutely not interested in the opposite sex. At least…not in the way that one should be interested in one’s spouse. I mean, women are wonderful, but I don’t want to marry one and try to procreate. And that hasn’t happened before. Siblings, cousins, and what not, sure. But not the heir. We’re not really sure how this is going to go.
Really, we’re just hoping the spell didn’t dictate a member of the opposite sex. It was a while back, and no one wrote down the relevant bit or even composed a song about it. We’re not sure if they went with the soulmate type of phrasing or the person of opposite gender that will complete you type of phrasing, since even the platonic couples were opposite genders.
The theory is that the blessing knows what it’s doing and wouldn’t have stuck itself to me it if wasn’t willing to cough up a male partner. That has to be the theory because if not, this is going to be really unfortunate. Hi. I’m your future husband. You get to be queen, but it’s really only an on-parchment type of relationship. Is that alright? Yeah…no. A world of no.
So here we go. I get to wander off on a tour of the countryside, and the family will all wait and see who I come back with. If I come back with anyone at all. Fun times.
Author Bio
Geneva Vand has finally settled down for the long term in Chicago, IL, where her husband and two cats keep her company. Before that, you could mostly find her in Maine, Washington, or Idaho. Her loves include cross stitching, indie nail polish, and stories of all kinds.
Eventually, she decided to start adding her own stories to the world. So far she’s sticking to romance. Her books tend toward light, low-heat escapism with a focus on LGBTQ+ characters.
Geneva loves to hear from her readers. Feel free to contact her by email or on social media. Visit her website to follow her blog and find book updates.
| Author Website | https://www.genevavand.com |
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