Today on my blog I have the What Lies Within Us Blog tour. On my stop there is a spotlight, and excerpt.
.jpg)
After receiving a letter from an aunt she never knew
existed, Kyna Hughes travels to Ireland only to find out that her whole life
has been a series of well-orchestrated lies. Suddenly, this poor girl from the
foothills of the Alleghany Mountains is thrust into a life of not only the
wealthy and affluent, but of dark magic and secret societies. As Kyna learns of
the magic hidden inside her, purposefully stunted as she grew up for her
protection, she must now battle mystical hauntings which are the result of
curses while getting a crash course in utilizing her powers. Kidnappings and
satanic weddings become her daily events as she struggles not to lose her heart
to one of two men—a former Navy SEAL hired to protect her or a wizard hired to
train her. Soon she will realize just how true it is that “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared
to what lies within us.”
Excerpt:
Darcaryn wasted no time getting right to business and right
to touchy feely. With his lean but solid body pressed against her back, he took
the stance of a man trying flirtatiously to teach a woman how to golf or shoot
pool or something. With each of her hands cupped in his and his arms curved
under hers, he woke her every nerve ending. Unlike lust or attraction though,
this seemed purely electrical in nature, as if he’d rubbed a hundred balloons
on his head to give her a powerful shock, steady without the pain. She
swallowed her groan, resigned herself to grinning and bearing it for as long as
she could. At the same time, she yearned for a glimpse of some semblance of her
world not being so ass backwards.
“You feel the power stirring within you,” he stated rather
than asked. “You need to tap into it and learn to control it. First, feel the
heat which stirs in your stomach. Don’t fear it. Instead, embrace it. Open your
mind to it. Think of things you love. For right now, the positive side of
emotions will be easier to deal with. The negative or darker side, while more
powerful, is harder to control. Anyway, that aside, imagine the heat in your
core as a ball of light. Now, make that light flow down your arms and to your
hands.
“I know it seems silly and awkward, but in time, you won’t
even have to think about it. The whole process will just come naturally. All
you’ll have to do is imagine what you want, and then create it into being. Of
course some things, the more complicated efforts, require study. Some spells
require ritual, knowledge, elements, and such to bring things into reality.
But, the most basic of things, like control over the elements, that is just
your powers meshing with the energies of the earth. First, you have to learn to
harness the power that you were never taught to recognize or understand.”
Sexy and nuts, this guy stood too close. That she
understood. If a fire warmed in her core, she could just blame him and call it
a day. Yes, the man was gorgeous. No denying that. Yet, a sixth sense, one she
had learned to trust in over the years, one that made her good at reading
people, gave her a very creepy and uneasy feeling about him. Even the energy,
as he called it, between them, had a sinister element. Her only confirmation of
this fact remained a constant, creeping cold sensation that snaked down her
spine when he touched her. Never had she met such a truly bad boy on some
cellular level. Good thing her mom had spent painstaking hours making her able
to recognize them and giving her the strength to walk away from them.
“Kyna. Kyna, you need to focus,” he admonished.
“I’m trying, but these powers, this energy, this heat you
talk about… I’ve always blamed it on other things. And even now, here, where
it’s so strong it’s driving me close to nuts myself, I’m not sure I understand
the insanity, forgive me, of how to imagine it into doing anything but making
me feel like I want to jump out of my own skin,” she ranted, her mouth tight as
she tried to resist the urge to shake him off.
“Just listen to my voice,” he whispered in a husky tone into
her ear, his breath fast and warm. “Concentrate only on your core, the feeling
of heat whirling in your stomach, like a thousand butterflies when you’re
nervous.”
He moved in closer if possible. So close she had to bare
down weight upon her feet to stop from rocking forward. He’d placed a hand
firmly against her stomach, so the whole butterfly scenario seemed legit.
Focusing on her middle rather than the hard body pressed against hers, his
crotch in the small of her back, seemed a move in the right direction at least.
She hadn’t come to Ireland for dates, but she was a woman. She’d never met this
caliber of men before. Each of their occupations were beyond what she could
imagine. Their personalities so dominant, looks aside, she had to fight for air
and a clear head in their presence. Maybe West Virginia just didn’t grow them
that way. Oh, that would make the guys back home mad.
“You feel it?” he quizzed.
“Yes,” she sighed.
Which thing he
referenced she wasn’t sure
“Now, imagine it into a white ball of light. You have to
really see it in your mind. Ignore what you feel emotionally. Quiet the
practical side of your brain. Just see a white ball of light inside you.”
She tried. She’d always had a big imagination, so why not?
“Okay,” she whispered back, unsure why they talked in such
hushed tones when locked in a room so far away from civilization.
“Now, make the light move. Make it into a long stream, like
a snake, and begin to imagine it slithering down your arms.”
He quieted for a second. So, she focused on this imaginary
light rather than the feeling of his chest rising and falling against her back.
The knot in her stomach tightened, made her nauseous, as she imagined the ball
of light stretching out. A sweat broke out over her back as the energy coiled
inside her, ready to strike. It raced down her arms without her trying, made
her palms hot and her fingers feel as if submerged in extremely hot water.
A memory snuck in. She remembered her mom, Sarah, the woman
who’d raised her, standing behind her, her hands on her waist to steady her on
a chair before the sink. Together, they’d washed dishes as Kyna had complained
the water too hot. She fought the image, wrestled with it and the emotions it
brought, as she refocused on the task at hand. With her jaw clenched, she
opened her eyes wide, focused on a spot on the floor in front of her. She let
it blur and fade until all she could see was in her mind’s eye, a bright light
that filled her body.
“Next, move the light into your palms,” Darcaryn’s deep
voice, so juxtaposed to the soft, encouraging voice of her mother in her memory
just seconds ago, startled her.
She let the tremble, the discomfort, merge into the energy
inside her.
“Let it build there, and then cup your hands to form a
circle between your palms. Now, let the light go. Let the energy move from you
into the air,” he instructed in a rhythmic voice.
She tried. What better did she have to do, remained her
rationale? Also, simply not wanting to upset such a man drove her too. A fear
of the unknown along with a strong intuition nagged at her. Who knew what this
man was capable of, magic wise; and she didn’t like the sinister vibes that
flowed from him. Intimidation acted a strong motivator, one that kept her
cautious as she played along.
She followed his instructions, as stupid as she felt, to the
letter. With her vivid imagination, she could’ve sworn that actual light flowed
through her anyway. Hot, sizzling vibrations traveled through her muscles, made
her body twitch and shake all over, even though no physical representation of
these sensations presented themselves. Her finger began to tingle like they
were falling asleep. In an automatic response, she wiggled them a bit. Instinct
made her want release from the pressure that built inside her. She imagined
sparks coming from her fingertips, but at the same time closed her eyes as a
blush took her face. In her mind, tiny white fragments of light began to form a
circle between her palms.
“Open your eyes, Kyna,” Darcaryn exclaimed, his tone a bit
higher than usual.
She opened the lids she’d held tightly closed, and then
blinked several times at the faint rays of light. So white in their brilliance,
they sparkled like glitter between her palms.
“Seriously?” she shrieked, and the light vanished.
Book Links:
Ever since she was
young, Kiki Howell has loved to listen to a well-woven tale with real
characters, inspired plots, and delightful resolutions. Kiki could spend hours
lost in a book, and soon she knew that creating lives, loves, and losses with
just words had to be the greatest thing that she could do. To that end, she
pursued her study of literature and writing, earning a bachelor’s degree in
English. She has now had over forty stories published, and could not be
more thrilled or grateful to see her creations polished and out in the real
world.
Stalker Links:
Other Works by Kiki:
Thank you for stopping by my blog today. I would also like to say Thank You to RBTL for letting me participate in this blog tour.
~Sabrina
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
