The Poison of Woedenwoud (Magicfall #3)
Author: K. Ferrin
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Publication Date: February 12, 2018
Description:
Magic is draining from the world threatening everything, the tatters of her own family, the warlocks, and the Mari alike. Ling and her companions search desperately for the key to ending it all, but warlocks dog their every step. Meanwhile, Ling, isolated and afraid, struggles against a rising tide of darkness far more threatening than anything in the Darkling Sea.
Ling slammed the book closed and tossed it to the bed next to her before moving across the room and staring down at the woman lying there. Ling could remember nothing of her, of what they’d been through together, of ever having met her. But there were pages and pages of writing in the grimoire detailing all of it. There was more of Fern in those pages than anyone else. They had become allies and friends as they’d made their way through the vagaries of this never-ending war. Ling marveled at that even now. She’d been so certain she’d never have such a relationship again, but the abuse she’d experienced because of what she was had stopped at the borders of Brielle. Even Fariss didn’t hate her for what she was, though his desire to destroy her was no less.
Ling ran a finger lightly along Fern’s blue-scaled cheek. Warm, dry, a hint of roughness beneath her finger. She needed to talk to someone about what she’d read, what she’d been through, the hate and anger she was feeling. She wished fiercely that Rudy were here with her. Or, more accurately, that he had stuck by her side as she would have done for him. But he’d said nothing and done nothing as Laera had tried to kill her. His face had been twisted with anguish, but what good did that do her? He’d done nothing, lifted not even a finger to help her. She wanted to punish him too.
Perhaps Fern was the only friend she had anymore, but she didn’t feel like a friend. Ling dropped to her knees and rested her head beside Fern’s ravaged shoulder. She tried to dredge up something, some memory of their time together, some feeling for the woman lying on the bed in front of her, but there was nothing.
Of the others, she barely knew Dreskin, and even if that hadn’t been true, he’d brought Celene aboard this ship. Celene, the mother of the man who’d raped her. Her daughter Amalya too, a girl who was physically close to Ling’s own age, but mentally still a child.
Dreskin had been there; he had yanked Fraser off her and had dragged him up to see the captain. He knew what sort of man Fraser was, and had brought that woman aboard anyway. He was no friend of hers.
Captain Drake had helped her, and continued to help her, but she’d also allowed Ling to walk out into Marique with Fariss. Drake had known what Fariss was capable of, but had said nothing to stop Ling from leaving with him. Ally she might be, but she was hardly reliable.
And not one of them understood what it was like to be cut so perfectly adrift from everything you knew and from everything you were. Only Fern knew what it was like to be so different, so hated for that difference, and so completely alone. Ling was the only changeling in the world who thought and felt and looked so completely human. Fern was one of the last two Mari in the world, and may actually be the last if Alyssum had succumbed to her injuries. She and Fern were the only ones in all the world that completely alone.
Ling reached out and wrapped her fingers around Fern’s hand. She didn’t remember anything about this woman, but she did feel a kinship with her nevertheless. An odd sort of one, based entirely on words she didn’t remember writing in a book she never remembered seeing before, but it was there.
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.
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.
—
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.
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.
