Bloodguard (Old Erth, #1)

by Cecy Robson

As I continue to stare, a soft pink highlights her cheeks. But she doesn’t look away, even when I raise one eyebrow in return. An emotion I haven’t seen in so long I’m almost not sure I’m seeing it now flits across her delicate features. For a moment, barely a fairy’s breath, I’m not a weapon or a face soon to be forgotten. I’m just a man.

“Say one more thing about that gladiator, and I’ll feed numb nuts here your wings,” Maeve fires off. It’s her voice that brings me back. Who needs a cheer squad when I have Maeve’s sweet disposition and vocabulary to spring me back to life?

“With all due respect, my lord,” a young woman with a light voice replies. Giselle. “Count Nathanial was about as bright as a donkey’s asshole at midnight. Is this really a loss for his court?” “Giselle,” Jakeb warns. “Father,” Giselle says.

I find it hard to believe Vitor is ever really kind. It’s simply a side he shows Maeve so what little power he grants her, she actually believes she wields.

I haul her to me and kiss her. It’s not a hasty kiss. I take my time, passing my lips over her lush mouth. With this woman…I’m lost.

The hope, the admiration, the love—they all come crashing back into my body in a massive tidal wave, knocking the air from my lungs. She didn’t just throw me away to be queen.

Aurora balances nature. She keeps the winter in mountains where it belongs and drought in the desert where it should remain.”

“And thus, creating new life with her spirit,” I finish for him. “Balance.”

Males only appear to mate and are devoured by the females the moment they dismount.