Anya Bast

I do love writing secondary characters. Sometimes it gives me an opportunity to explore the hero or heroine of my next novel just a little, letting me get to know him or her before I write their story.

That was the case with Aeric O’Malley who appears as a secondary characters in my upcoming release, Wicked Enchantment. I got to know Aeric pretty well while I wrote Wicked Enchantment. It helped me gear up for Aeric’s story, Cruel Enchantment, which will release in the summer of 2010.

Here’s a short snippet from Wicked Enchantment (January 5th, 2010) with Aeric in it. Just a little taste. 🙂 I can’t post a longer snippet because I I want to avoid spoilers. This book hasn’t release yet, after all.

Excerpt from Wicked Enchantment, first book in the Dark Magick series.

When he reached the top of the winding staircase, Aeric O’Malley, one of his only friends, leaned in the doorway leading out onto the roof. He crossed his brawny arms across his chest and lifted a dark brow. “You’re late and the souls are restless. We almost left without you.”

Aeric, long ago and in another world for the fae, had been a blacksmith with an ability to forge magickal weapons that had given a whole new dimension to the battles in which they’d been wielded. These days there wasn’t much call for magicked battle weapons, though Aeric still found work here and there, making charmed restraints and the occasional illegal charmed club or sword. Now Aeric was a part of Gabriel’s host and one of his best friends.

Some called it the Furious Host, but Gabriel thought they were only mildly annoyed. Probably more so than usual since he’d been making them wait.
“I’ve been busy. I’m doing something for the Shadow King over in the Rose.” Gabriel said, reaching the door.

“The Rose?” Aeric pushed off the doorframe fell into step beside him. His longish dark blond hair was tied at the nape of his neck and he wore a pair of battered jeans, steel toed boots and a T-shirt that strained over his chest. He wasn’t a blacksmith anymore, but he still had the build of one. “What’s it like over there?”

“Boring.” Except for Aislinn. She was a spitfire. He’d tell Aeric all about it, but Aodh wanted it under wraps. “Are the rest of them here?”

“Yeah. We’ve been waiting for the last hour.” His voice came out an angry, low growl.

Emerging on to the roof he saw the rest of his host reclining on the shiny black quartz top of the tower. The mystic horses roamed aimless. There were six tonight, which meant a healthy amount of souls to reap. Abastor was Gabriel’s black quarter horse and was the only mount that appeared nightly. A headstrong horse only Gabriel could control, Abastor led the hunt. The sleek black Netherworld hounds, Blix and Taliesin, also roamed, sniffing what there was to sniff when they weren’t tracking needy souls throughout the city.

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Leah Braemel
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