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BEYOND THE REALM OF DREAMS
IS A WORLD SHE NEVER IMAGINED
Masayi Sairu was raised to be dainty, delicate, demure . . .
and deadly. She is one of the emperor’s Golden Daughters, as much a legend as
she is a commodity. One day, Sairu will be contracted in marriage to a patron,
whom she will secretly guard for the rest of her life.
But when she learns that a sacred Dream Walker of the temple
seeks the protection of a Golden Daughter, Sairu forgoes marriage in favor of
this role. Her skills are stretched to the limit, for assassins hunt in the
shadows, and phantoms haunt in dreams. With only a mysterious Faerie cat and a
handsome slave—possessed of his own strange abilities—to help her, can Sairu
shield her new mistress from evils she can neither see nor touch?
For the Dragon is building an army of fire. And soon the
heavens will burn.
COMING NOVEMBER 2014
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COMING NOVEMBER 2014
~ ~ ~
What a lovely cover! It uses some of my favorite colors, but also Eanrin is finally pictured. Make sure you read the excerpt from chapter 3 below to find out how Masayi and the cat meet. For a moment after reading Anne Elisabeth's 'The Story I Nearly Forgot' I wasn't so sure it was Eanrin since he wouldn't have been a Knight of Farthestshore way back then and that's what I was expecting his role to be. But her 'Cover Concepts' page confirms that it's Eanrin. So much to look forward to!
While all of the books have maintained a similar feel, I do like how this one brings back a circle similar to Heartless and Veiled Rose. Yeah, I know I said the same thing when Shadow Hand was revealed.
Also it's easy to know right away that this story takes place in a new area of Goldstone Wood since other than the novella Goddess Tithe, none of the stories take place near an ocean. Also the clothing indicates a new culture.
Learn more about the cover from the person who designed it! Anne Elisabeth is interviewing Julia Popova on her blog.
The lovely Anne Elisabeth Stengl has a giveaway to accompany this exciting news:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Excerpt from Chapter 3
GOLDEN DAUGHTER
Sairu
made her way from Princess Safiya’s chambers out to the walkways of the
encircling gardens. The Masayi, abode of the Golden Daughters, was an intricate
complex of buildings linked by blossom-shrouded walkways, calm with fountains
and clear, lotus-filled pools where herons strutted and spotted fish swam.
Here
she had lived all the life she could remember.
The
Masayi was but a small part of Manusbau Palace, which comprised the whole of Sairu’s
existence. She had never stepped beyond the palace walls. To do so would be to
step into a world of corruption, corruption to which a Golden Daughter would
not be impervious until she was safely chartered to a master and her life’s
work was affixed in her heart and mind. Meanwhile, she must live securely embalmed
in this tomb, waiting for life to begin.
Sairu’s
mouth curved gently at the corners, and she took small steps as she had been
trained—slow, dainty steps that disguised the swiftness with which she could
move at need. Even in private she must maintain the illusion, even here within
the Masayi.
A cat
sat on the doorstep of her own building, grooming itself in the sunlight. She
stepped around it and proceeded into the red-hung halls of the Daughter’s
quarters and on to her private chambers. There she must gather what few things
she would take with her—fewer things even than Jen-ling would take on her
journey to Aja. For Jen-ling would be the wife of a prince, and she must give
every impression of a bride on her wedding journey.
I wonder who my master will be? Sairu
thought as she slid back the rattan door to her chamber and entered the quiet
simplicity within. She removed her elaborate costume and exchanged it for a
robe of simple red without embellishments. She washed the serving girl cosmetics
from her face and painted on the daily mask she and her sisters wore—white with
black spots beneath each eye and a red stripe down her chin. It was elegant and
simple, and to the common eye it made her indistinguishable from her sisters.
The
curtain moved behind her. She did not startle but turned quietly to see the
same cat slipping into her room. Cats abounded throughout Manusbau Palace, kept
on purpose near the storehouses to manage the vermin. But they did not often
enter private chambers.
Sairu,
kneeling near her window with her paint pots around her, watched the cat as it
moved silkily across the room, stepped onto her sleeping cushions, and began
kneading the soft fabric, purring all the while. Its claws pulled at the
delicate threads. But it was a cat. As far as it was concerned, it had every
right to enjoy or destroy what it willed.
At
last it seemed to notice Sairu watching it. It turned sleepy eyes to her and
blinked.
Sairu
smiled. In a voice as sweet as honey, she asked, “Who are you?”
The
cat twitched its tail softly and went on purring.
The
next moment, Sairu was across the room, her hand latched onto the cat’s scruff.
She pushed it down into the cushions and held it there as it yowled and
snarled, trying to catch at her with its claws.
“Who
are you?” she demanded, her voice fierce this time. “What are you? Are you an evil spirit sent to haunt me?”
“No,
dragons eat it! I mean, rrrraww! Mreeeow!
Yeeeowrl!”
The
cat twisted and managed to lash out at her with its back feet, its claws
catching in the fabric of her sleeve. One claw scratched her wrist, startling
her just enough that she loosened her hold. The cat took advantage of the
opportunity and, hissing like a fire demon, leapt free. It sprang across the
room, knocking over several of her paint pots, and spun about, back-arched and
snarling. Every hair stood on end, and its ears lay flat to its skull.
Sairu
drew a dagger from her sleeve and crouched, prepared for anything. The smile
lingered on her mouth, but her eyes flashed. “Who sent you?” she demanded. “Why
have you come to me now? You know of my assignment, don’t you.”
“Meeeeowrl,” the cat said stubbornly and
showed its fangs in another hiss.
“I see
it in your face,” Sairu said, moving carefully to shift her weight and prepare
to spring. “You are no animal. Who is your master, devil?”
The
cat dodged her spring easily enough, which surprised her. Sairu was quick and
rarely missed a target. Her knife sank into the floor and stuck there, but she
released it and whipped another from the opposite sleeve even as she whirled
about.
Any
self-respecting cat would have made for the window or the door. This one sprang
back onto the cushions and crouched there, tail lashing. Its eyes were all too
sentient, but it said only “Meeeeow,”
as though trying to convince itself.
Sairu
chewed the inside of her cheek. Then, in a voice as smooth as butter, she said,
“We have ways of dealing with devils in this country. Do you know what they
are, demon-cat?”
The
cat’s ears came up. “Prreeowl?” it
said.
“Allow
me to enlighten you.”
And Sairu
put her free hand to her mouth and uttered a long, piercing whistle. The
household erupted with the voices of a dozen and more lion dogs.
The
little beasts, slipping and sliding and crashing into walls, their claws
clicking and clattering on the tiles, careened down the corridor and poured
into Sairu’s room. Fluffy tails wagging, pushed-in noses twitching, they roared
like the lions they believed themselves to be and fell upon the cat with
rapacious joy.
The
cat uttered one long wail and the next moment vanished out the window. Sairu,
dogs milling at her feet, leapt up and hurried to look out after it, expecting
to see a tawny tail slipping from sight. But she saw nothing.
The
devil was gone. For the moment at least.
Sairu
sank down on her cushions, and her lap was soon filled with wriggling,
snuffling hunters eager for praise. She petted them absently, but her mind was
awhirl. She had heard of devils taking the form of animals and speaking with
the tongues of men. But she had never before seen it. She couldn’t honestly say
she’d even believed it.
“What
danger is my new master in?” she wondered. “From what must I protect him?”
Check out the book's webpage to learn even more: http://goldendaughternovel.blogspot.com/
