Grey Magic
Author: Jeffe Kennedy
Publisher: Brightlynx Publishing
Release Date: February 28, 2022
Series: Bonds of Magic #
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Excerpt:
Once again, she was in her alternate form. A creature Gabriel had described as a silver phoenix, which wasn’t something she’d ever heard of. She’d really like to get a look at herself in a mirror and compare the image to the book he’d mentioned seeing it in. Convocation knew the House Phel library had all sorts of oddities secreted away, as did the house itself, along with its lone wizard.
But that would have to wait. All she knew was her vision was very different—more acute and also disconcertingly… globular. Sounds came through vividly and smells did not. She shifted, feeling the thousands of pinpricks where her feathers protruded from her skin, each exquisitely sensitive. That would take getting used to.
Gabriel, sharply delineated in grayscale with a magical aura that radiated well beyond the confines of the arcanium, gazed on her with a smile so satisfied she’d call it smug on anyone else. For him, however, she knew the bland expression covered a wealth of relief. She’d love to find a way to prevent him from worrying about her so much. It simply wasn’t natural for a wizard. The typical Convocation wizard took their familiar for granted for a good reason: so they could focus on more pressing concerns. If Gabriel faltered in the defense of House Phel because he was distracted thinking about her safety… well, it didn’t bear considering because she’d make sure that didn’t happen.
Somehow.
Gabriel laid a hand on her feathered breast, the silver net of magic tightened on her again, inexorable and impossible to resist. The contraction of pleasure-plain wrenched through her, and she returned to human form. Naked.
Planting her hands on her hips, she glared at Gabriel. “Forget something?”
He gaped at her in dismay—and the beginnings of debilitating guilt. “What happened?”
Though he wasn’t asking her, she answered before he could go into a spiral of doubt and defeatism. Wizards shaped magic with their minds, so belief in themselves was critical to successful incantations. There was a reason the most arrogant wizards were the most powerful. “If you wanted to get me naked, all you have to do is ask, wizard,” she murmured, deliberately striking a seductive pose.
His jaw firmed, wizard-black eyes sparking with indignation. A much better emotion for him to work with. “I wasn’t trying to—”
“What were you trying to do?” she interrupted. “What did you picture when you summoned me back to human form?”
Puzzled, he knitted his brows. Then his face cleared. “I was thinking of how it worked before.”
“All right then. So, put me back in alternate form and this time when you summon me, be careful with the details.”
“Wait a moment.” He held up a hand, his frown deepening. “If I have this much control over how you return to your natural form, then I must have similar influence over sending you into your alternate form. What if I do something wrong and harm you?”
About the Book:
The epic story of Nic and Gabriel continues…
His Darkness, Her Brightness… Together They Defy the World
Lord Gabriel Phel at last holds his dream in his grasp—and faces losing everything. He’s finally won the love of his wife, familiar, and mother of his child, and she offers him a heartfelt commitment he can truly believe in. Together they’re building a true house, one with a growing family of friends and allies that can help them stand against their enemies. And he’s learning to master his magic, to use it as the powerful tool and weapon it should be. But old and new enemies array themselves to take it all away.
Lady Veronica, now fully of House Phel, is doing her best to embrace happiness. After all, she has her hands full managing her mercurial and powerful wizard as he navigates taking his place as the head of their house, and with learning her own extraordinary ability. But she fears whatever peace they win won’t last long. When their enemies inevitably strike—including, perhaps, her own father—they must be ready to defend all they hold precious. It doesn’t help that her idealistic husband insists on making foolishly noble decisions that put them at even greater risk, nor that she loves him all the more for it.
As Nic and Gabriel struggle to put their household in order, giving ill-advised safe harbor to Nic’s runaway sister and risking their lives to save Gabriel’s sister’s sanity, their enemies draw the noose tighter on their well laid plans. When the unthinkable occurs, it’s up to both of them to trust in the nascent, unknown magic they’ve woven together.
Purchase links:
https://jeffekennedy.com/grey-magic
About the Author:
Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include novels, non-fiction, poetry, and short fiction. She has won the prestigious RITA® Award from Romance Writers of America (RWA), has been a finalist twice, been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award. She is the current President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
Her award-winning fantasy romance trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms hit the shelves starting in May 2014. Book 1, The Mark of the Tala, received a starred Library Journal review and was nominated for the RT Book of the Year while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose received a Top Pick Gold and was nominated for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2014. The third book, The Talon of the Hawk, won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2015. Two more books followed in this world, beginning the spin-off series The Uncharted Realms. Book one in that series, The Pages of the Mind, was nominated for the RT Reviewer’s Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2016 and won RWA’s 2017 RITA Award. The second book, The Edge of the Blade, released December 27, 2016, and was a PRISM finalist, along with The Pages of the Mind. The final novel in the series, The Fate of the Tala, released in February 2020, along with a short novel epilogue, The Lost Princess Returns. A high fantasy trilogy, The Chronicles of Dasnaria, taking place in The Twelve Kingdoms world began releasing from Rebel Base books in 2018. The novella, The Dragons of Summer, first appearing in the Seasons of Sorcery anthology, finaled for the 2019 RITA Award.
Kennedy also introduced a new fantasy romance series, Sorcerous Moons, which includes Lonen’s War, Oria’s Gambit, The Tides of Bàra, The Forests of Dru, Oria’s Enchantment, and Lonen’s Reign. And she released a contemporary erotic romance series, Missed Connections, which started with Last Dance and continues in With a Prince and Since Last Christmas.
In September 2019, St. Martins Press released The Orchid Throne, the first book in a new romantic fantasy series, The Forgotten Empires. The sequel, The Fiery Crown, followed in May 2020, and culminated in The Promised Queen in May 2021.
Most recently, Kennedy has released two new series. The epic fantasy romances in the Heirs of Magic series include The Long Night of the Crystalline Moon, The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince, The Sorceress Queen and the Pirate Rogue, and the upcoming The Dragon’s Daughter and the Winter Mage (September 2021), and The Storm Princess and the Raven King (February 2022). The Bonds of Magic series are dark fantasy romances and include, so far, Dark Wizard, Bright Familiar, and Grey Magic (December 2021)
Kennedy’s other works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion; an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera; and the erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under, which includes Going Under, Under His Touch and Under Contract.
She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.
Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com, every Sunday at the popular SFF Seven blog, on Facebook, on Goodreads and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is represented by Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.
https://www.facebook.com/Author.Jeffe.Kennedy