A Dream Within A Dream: Across the Darkling Sea Tour: Excerpt + Giveaway

Across the Darkling Sea
Author: K. Ferrin
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publication Date: November 12, 2016

Description:

Across the Darkling Sea is the first book in the new serial fantasy series Magicfall, by K. Ferrin!

Magic is forbidden in Brielle, but that never stopped Evelyn. Until Now. Because Evelyn has discovered she is magic, and now she is running for her life.

Her only hope is on an island cloaked in shadow, an island of dark magic and even darker beasts. An island warlocks call home.

Evelyn’s friends have turned against her, her own mother tried to kill her, and the place she calls home has banished her. Hidden away in the belly of a riverboat, a stowaway, her journey begins.
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Across the Darkling Sea is book one in a serial series. Each book is roughly 50,000 words or about 150 pages. To emphasize, this is a serial series, meaning it’s one story that stretches across multiple books.

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The silence stretched and as the seconds ticked by, Ling could feel the tension building in the room. Outside, a sharp growl of thunder echoed across a wide-open sky. Dreskin shifted nervously beside her. She longed to look at him, but she didn’t dare.

The captain’s slashing mouth was open in an O of surprise she would have found comical in another situation. From the corner of her eye, she saw Fraser creep backward until his back pressed against the door to the cabin.

The captain knew who she was, what she was. For the first time, she considered the risks her parents had taken in allowing her to stay among them as long as they had. The risks everyone in Meuse had taken by allowing it to happen. What was the punishment for harboring a creature of magic? She wondered if anyone still living knew.

“The chancellor’s daughter...” The captain’s eyes narrowed to thin slits and he launched to his feet with impressive speed for a man his size. Behind her she heard Dreskin’s breath hiss in a sharp exhale.

“Abomination!” The captain raised one hand, his finger pointing into the center of her chest. The accusation hit her like a physical blow, and she staggered under the weight of it. “She will destroy us all! Get her off this boat!”

His eyes blazed in his face and spit sprayed from his mouth as he howled his order. Dreskin stared at her for the space of an instant, regret and a promise in his eyes. Fraser wrapped his arms about her chest, grasping her breasts tightly.

“Try anythin’ an’ I’ll kill ye, ye betch. Feckin' magic!” His stench overwhelmed her as he began dragging her toward the door.

She screamed, kicking out at Fraser. She only needed his focus to falter for an instant.

“Be still, I’ll help...”

Dreskin’s words were lost in a swelling tide of fear as he grabbed hold of her kicking feet and held her still. She fought, but the two men were strong. They lifted her bodily from the floor. Dreskin struggled to hold her gaze, but she kicked him away.

The ship shuddered, and a crack of thunder split the world in half.

The captain loomed large in her vision, his face twisted and purple, eyes wide as if they beheld his doom. She hoped fervently they did.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered what sort of person could harbor such hate for someone they’d never met. She’d hurt no one. Had done no wrong outside of sneaking aboard a boat for a free ride. How could someone hate a person so completely for what they were?

Dreskin shoved Fraser aside, grabbling Ling under her arms. “Relax, relax!” Dreskin whispered in her ear. “Stop struggling!”

But she couldn’t stop now even if she’d wanted to. She screamed again, and all three men flinched as another round of thunder shook the boat. The sky opened, and rain battered the thin timber roof of the captain’s cabin. The sound was deafening.

K. Ferrin spends her days surrounded by engineers, technology, and humming machinery, but her evenings are steeped in magic, myth, and adventure. She writes fantasy, loves gardening, and eats way too much pie. She lives at the foot of the Colorado Rockies with her husband and two pooches.

Her novels include the stand alone YA fantasy novel Magicless, as well as Across the Darkling Sea, and A Dying Land, the first two books of a series. You can find her online at www.kferrin.com.