Bitterwood by @RowanSpeedwell Virtual Tour | Spotlight, Excerpt & #giveaway #mmromance @RiptideBooks

Bitterwood

Outrunning a winter storm in the north, Captain Faran of the King's Guard leads his men and a young mage named Meric to shelter at Bitterwood Manor, the ancestral home of the Daenes. Faran and his troops have been searching for weeks for a mysterious, lion-like beast that reportedly haunts the uncharted northern woods. For Meric, finding that prophesied cat is a matter of life and death.

Though Faran is deeply focused on their mission, the enigmatic Joss Daene, Lord of Bitterwood, fascinates him. Strong and proud, Joss is everything Faran wants in a lover. More, if he were honest. But Joss belongs to Bitterwood, and Faran to his duty.

Together they will need to brave the oldest, darkest part of the Bitterwood in the coldest, deepest snows of winter to find the legendary cat. But time is running out—for Meric, for the kingdom, and for Faran and Joss’s fledgling love.

Purchase at Riptide

Excerpt...

Chapter One

The manor was typical for a backwoods holding: a wooden structure built over a high stone undercroft, the arches closed with heavy oak doors, a wooden staircase leading to a gallery above the undercroft. It looked small against the great dark forest at its back—mountainous pines and leafless oaks loomed black against the lowering sky. A long, low building off to the left had the high, wide doors of stables; beside it stood an empty smithy. Across the barren farmyard were other smaller outbuildings, all within the log palisade wall. Smoke curled from two stone chimneys at either end of the manor building, but there was no other sign of life—no animals in the yard, no men posted on the long wooden gallery above the stone croft, no smoke from the smithy.

It had been a long, difficult journey, in the bitterest part of winter, with no certainty that what they searched for even existed. The prophesy about their young mage was such a vague prognostication that Captain Faran would have tossed it off as nonsense under normal circumstances.

But these were far from normal circumstances. Why else would ten of the king’s troops, including their skeptical captain, be sent off to chase wild geese—particularly in company with such a frail, precious guide? The wild goose being a mysterious golden beast. And a master mage. Somewhere in the north.

And time was running out.

Faran glanced at Meric. Behind them, horses’ feet stamped impatiently on packed snow, the jingle of harness oddly muted in the heavy silence under the leaden sky.

“They’re here,” Meric said in a low voice that rasped with weariness. “Watching. Hail them—we’ve not much time before the storm hits, and we need to be under cover.”

“Aye,” Faran said, then stood in his stirrups and shouted, “Ho the house!” He let his mount take a stride or two forward. Meric followed. Faran said, “You should stay back, milord.”

“Why?” Meric said dryly. “I’m only a mage.”

Faran gave him a quick glance, to see his drawn, pale face calm, with no sign of the bitterness Faran himself would have felt in the same situation. “For now,” he agreed. “But that doesn’t change what you are in truth.”

“What is truth, Captain?” Meric said with a chuckle. He drew his wool cloak closer around his shoulders and waited patiently.

Not for long—a smaller door opened in one of the large wood doors and a man came out. Alone, with a short sword in one hand, a heavy fur cloak around his shoulders. Beneath the cloak he wore a leather brigandine stitched with metal plates. He walked toward them with a steady pace, his gait relaxed and his sword pointed at the ground. Faran watched him stop a few yards away and push back the hood of the cloak.

“Gentlemen?” he said.

To read this excerpt in its entirety or to learn more about the Author or the series, visit Riptide Publishing. 

An unrepentant biblioholic, Rowan Speedwell spends half her time pretending to be a law librarian, half her time pretending to be a database manager, half her time pretending to be a fifteenth-century Aragonese noblewoman, half her time . . . wait a minute . . .  Hmm.  Well, one thing she doesn’t pretend to be is good at math.  She is good at pretending, though.

In her copious spare time (hah) she does needlework, calligraphy and illumination, and makes jewelry.  She has a master’s degree in history from the University of Chicago, is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and lives in a Chicago suburb with the obligatory Writer’s Cat and way too many books.

Connect with Rowan:

• Website: rowanspeedwell.com
• Twitter: @RowanSpeedwell
• Goodreads: goodreads.com/Rowan_Speedwell

To celebrate the release of Bitterwood, one lucky winner will receive a $15 Amazon Gift Card! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on September 24, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

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