Unveiled by Lynda Haviland: Tuesday Teaser
I’m so pleased to be able to share one of my fellow Hotel Paranormal author’s books, Unveiled, that is out now!
Unveiled
Desire comes with a wicked price.
The long-lost Veils of Salome have resurfaced. As they have for centuries, the beautifully iridescent silks will enthrall a new victim—bestowing her with her greatest desire and then claiming a wicked price.
For thief Eva Ward, recovering the elusive and magical Veils of Salome is a professional triumph, but she can’t claim her bounty. Her client wants her dead. A dark wraith eternally bound to the veils seeks their destruction. And the longer Eva possesses the veils, the harder it will be for her to avoid the curse. She is desperate for a safe haven where she can plan a way out of this mess.
When Azarion is summoned once again by the cursed veils, he discovers they are within reach and he’s ready to act. He must find a way to destroy them and end the torment of his formless existence. But how can he when the current target of the veils is adorably distracting and she’s not going along with any of his plans?
From the safety of a magical hotel tucked between dimensions, Eva and Azarion search for an end to the curse—and they find a way to steal each other’s hearts.
A Hotel Paranormal story.
The Hotel Paranormal is THE place for supernatural beings looking to get away from it all. Beings like werewolves, vampires, elves, sprites, djinn and more check in from all over the world for business and for pleasure — and sometimes for both.
Excerpt
The teaser I’d like to share with you today is a section of my favorite scene from early in the story involving Ms. Nellie Pearle—the ghostly matchmaker who is so good at what she does that she keeps me really busy as a writer. In this scene, Eva has reached Nellie’s tomb and summoned the old ghost for a feisty interrogation.
“Where are the veils?” Eva lowered the bone, but withdrew it when Nellie cried out in pain. There was a look of fear in Nellie’s vague eyes. Eva was the source of that fear, and she hated how that felt. Something like shame bloomed in her chest. But she needed to get to the veils first.
Nothing else matters.
Eva set aside the lighter and resumed her efforts to fill the bag with Nellie’s bones.
“Young lady, you are a thief.”
“I’m a curator, an acquisition specialist.” Eva continued to move the bones to their new resting place. “And don’t judge me. You were once a very successful fortune-teller. You conned many people out of their money with your crystal ball. What’d you call it? Eye of the Gods?”
“Pearl of the Gods, and don’t sass me. I paid my price. Will you be ready to pay yours, Evangeline?”
Eva didn’t like the way Nellie was looking at her with a mixture of doubt and pity. And how in the hell did Nellie know her name? The bag couldn’t fill up fast enough. In her haste, fistfuls of feathers now joined the bones in the duffle bag.
Finally, Eva stood with the duffle in one hand and the lighter in the other. “Nellie Pearle, I need to know where the veils are and only you can tell me that. This can happen one of two ways. You’ll refuse to tell me and I’ll set this whole bag on fire. I’m sure these old bones will go up in smoke very quickly, and you’ll finally be free of this mortal world. Or—you agree to tell me where they are and I’ll hide your bones in a more secure location.”
“So nobody else can ever threaten me the way you have?”
Eva admired Nellie Pearle’s stubborn resolve, but they didn’t have time to get matching friendship tattoos. Eva ruthlessly channeled the wave of guilt away from her heart. “Precisely.”
Laughter bounced around the stone mausoleum. Deep belly laughter. A flame-orange phantom boa slid from the shadows and wrapped around Nellie’s shoulders. She rubbed it across her cheek as if caressing its softness. Then, she was all business.
“Honey, you got guts. I hope you can swim.”
Buy Unveiled at Amazon.
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