Christine Feehan's Blog - Posts Tagged "elie"
Shadow Fire: From Paris with Love
For several years we’ve followed the Ferraro family of Chicago. And though I wasn’t ready to let them go, it was time to move on and meet someone new. Someone from a different family of Shadow Riders.
I wrote Shadow Fire to introduce someone from a different family.
I hadn’t thought about writing Elie’s book. He was a fun secondary character that I enjoyed writing. But, soon he took on a life of his own and he insisted he had his own story to tell.
The Archambault family, which is centered in France, is notorious not only for their shadow riding abilities but because they are a family who also could mete out justice to other Shadow Riders. Try to imagine what kind of training you would need to be able to kill well-trained assassins who could also ride shadows.
The fact that Elie had a dark side to him made perfect sense. He was raised in the shadow of a great family. The expectations of his skills was extraordinary. Because the Archambault family was akin to royalty in its own way, a great deal of discipline and little affection was simply the way Elie was brought up.
When it was dictated to him that he would marry a woman of his family’s choosing, Elie rebelled. And the young woman his family wanted to tie him to heard every cruel word Elie had to say about why he’d not marry her. Elie tried to apologize later, but to no avail. She disappeared and he left France, joining the military and then the Ferraro security detail.
But Paris was never truly far away. Not in his memory. Or heart.
There had been a woman there who’d caught his attention. A woman who stood out. He only had to wait until she was old enough. Ready enough. Now that was gone. As was the chance of a love-match.
He accepted the terms of an arranged marriage. A woman from France. Who met a very specific criteria. She would have everything…but his heart.
She arrived in the United States already married by proxy. The ceremony just a formality. They finally were able to meet in person. And that’s when everything went to Hell.
I had such a great time writing this book and giving Elie someone that would challenge and fulfill him.
I wrote Shadow Fire to introduce someone from a different family.
I hadn’t thought about writing Elie’s book. He was a fun secondary character that I enjoyed writing. But, soon he took on a life of his own and he insisted he had his own story to tell.
The Archambault family, which is centered in France, is notorious not only for their shadow riding abilities but because they are a family who also could mete out justice to other Shadow Riders. Try to imagine what kind of training you would need to be able to kill well-trained assassins who could also ride shadows.
The fact that Elie had a dark side to him made perfect sense. He was raised in the shadow of a great family. The expectations of his skills was extraordinary. Because the Archambault family was akin to royalty in its own way, a great deal of discipline and little affection was simply the way Elie was brought up.
When it was dictated to him that he would marry a woman of his family’s choosing, Elie rebelled. And the young woman his family wanted to tie him to heard every cruel word Elie had to say about why he’d not marry her. Elie tried to apologize later, but to no avail. She disappeared and he left France, joining the military and then the Ferraro security detail.
But Paris was never truly far away. Not in his memory. Or heart.
There had been a woman there who’d caught his attention. A woman who stood out. He only had to wait until she was old enough. Ready enough. Now that was gone. As was the chance of a love-match.
He accepted the terms of an arranged marriage. A woman from France. Who met a very specific criteria. She would have everything…but his heart.
She arrived in the United States already married by proxy. The ceremony just a formality. They finally were able to meet in person. And that’s when everything went to Hell.
I had such a great time writing this book and giving Elie someone that would challenge and fulfill him.
The Danger of Shadows: Shadow Fire
Shadow Fire brings us back to the discussion of how horrible it can be to ride the shadows.
From the very beginning of the series, it was made clear that riding shadows wasn’t something easy to do. Some people just couldn’t. Some people did but paid a high price for it. Having the ability to ride the shadows wasn’t a guarantee that you’d be successful at it. So above and beyond a rider’s ability to use the shadow tubes, they also had to be well versed in fighting and weapons. In killing.
The Ferraro’s lost their young brother, Ettore, in the shadows. Their mother pushed the younger Ferraro into going into the shadows in order to save her own pride and it was Stefano who had to retrieve his brother’s body from within the shadow tubes. Riding those tubes takes a physical toll on the body.
When Nicoletta was forced to ride the shadow tubes with Taviano in Shadow Flight, in order to escape a group of killers, she became disoriented and ill at first. It would take training in order for her to learn to ride the shadows like the others.
Brielle Couture is a woman who doesn’t take failure lightly. Not if she can improve herself and come out on top. She’d not been the prettiest sister. The most eligible. Riding the shadows made her extremely ill. And though no one thought she’d be a Shadow Rider, she had the Shadow Rider genes and that was where they saw her value. But, Brielle didn’t see herself that way. She would train regardless of the cost. No one would take away what she had fought so hard to do. No one would take away the life she carefully worked at having. A husband. A family. Respect and perhaps even affection.
Everything she worked so hard to have would be put into question, challenged or potentially taken away.
Riding could cost her everything, including her life. But she wasn’t about to let Elie Archambault dictate what she could or could not do.
Sometimes we want something so much we are willing to do what it takes to have it. And when we get it, it’s not good for us. Even when we know it’s a bad idea, we’ve fought for it for so long it feels like you’d rather take chances than give up.
Brielle will have to make compromises in her new, married, life. Making the wrong choice could be a point of no return when you’re a Shadow Rider.
From the very beginning of the series, it was made clear that riding shadows wasn’t something easy to do. Some people just couldn’t. Some people did but paid a high price for it. Having the ability to ride the shadows wasn’t a guarantee that you’d be successful at it. So above and beyond a rider’s ability to use the shadow tubes, they also had to be well versed in fighting and weapons. In killing.
The Ferraro’s lost their young brother, Ettore, in the shadows. Their mother pushed the younger Ferraro into going into the shadows in order to save her own pride and it was Stefano who had to retrieve his brother’s body from within the shadow tubes. Riding those tubes takes a physical toll on the body.
When Nicoletta was forced to ride the shadow tubes with Taviano in Shadow Flight, in order to escape a group of killers, she became disoriented and ill at first. It would take training in order for her to learn to ride the shadows like the others.
Brielle Couture is a woman who doesn’t take failure lightly. Not if she can improve herself and come out on top. She’d not been the prettiest sister. The most eligible. Riding the shadows made her extremely ill. And though no one thought she’d be a Shadow Rider, she had the Shadow Rider genes and that was where they saw her value. But, Brielle didn’t see herself that way. She would train regardless of the cost. No one would take away what she had fought so hard to do. No one would take away the life she carefully worked at having. A husband. A family. Respect and perhaps even affection.
Everything she worked so hard to have would be put into question, challenged or potentially taken away.
Riding could cost her everything, including her life. But she wasn’t about to let Elie Archambault dictate what she could or could not do.
Sometimes we want something so much we are willing to do what it takes to have it. And when we get it, it’s not good for us. Even when we know it’s a bad idea, we’ve fought for it for so long it feels like you’d rather take chances than give up.
Brielle will have to make compromises in her new, married, life. Making the wrong choice could be a point of no return when you’re a Shadow Rider.
