Today marks the publication of The Magician's Assistant, a novelette about darkness, desire, atoning for bad decisions... and, yes, real, bone-deep magic.
But when Rain arrives, he finds himself interviewing for far more than a job. This magician is no charlatan. He's as hard and cold as his magic, magic than can send a sword through a man's heart and leave it beating. To take that sword, his assistant must possess unique qualities. Obedience. Loyalty. Trust. And maybe... love.
If Rain can give all that, and somehow persuade the magician to offer it back, he might just find the life he's been searching for.
The Magician's Assistant is available for purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo Books, iTunes, and just about everywhere else ebooks are sold.
And now, being properly exhausted, I shall leave you with an excerpt.
**Adult material - not for readers under 18**
“Are
you quite comfortable?”
Rain
smiled slightly. His spine stretched
unnaturally against the drag of his own body, his toes just barely brushing the
floor. Chains ground against his wrist
bones, and already the strain made his shoulders ache, set his arms on
fire. “Not… exactly.”
The
magician nodded. He adjusted neither
chain or hook.
And
that, at least, was exactly what Rain had expected of him. His smile
hardened. So the magician wanted to hurt
him? Good. He could handle it.
The
magician circled him, chin tipped down.
His hair fell forward to shadow his gaze. “The sword,” he said, “is a tool in many
tricks of illusion. But this is not a
trick. I do not practice illusion; my
business is magic. Do you believe in
magic, boy?”
“Yes,
sir.”
“In
truth?”
“I
believe, sir.”
“Then
if I were to put this blade through your belly, you believe that I could do so
without causing harm to your body?”
Rain
sucked in a labored breath. “Yes, sir.”
“There
is only one matter remaining then.
Trust.” The corner of the
magician’s mouth lifted in an acerbic half-smile. He bent to retrieve the mended scarf he’d set
aside earlier. It trailed silken and sin
black from his hands. “Do you trust me,
boy?”
Rain
stared at the scarf. In four years, he
had never been blindfolded. It was his
only hard limit, the one thing he would not allow. He would do anything, give himself over to
anything—as long as he could see it coming.
This
was his last chance to walk away. Even
with the shut door and the chains locked around him, the magician was giving
him one final chance to leave unscathed.
But
he couldn’t. Because there was the word,
trust, and that was what it all came
down to. Did he trust this man?
Arctic
eyes gazed back at him with scarcely veiled amusement—and challenge. The gaze and the half-bitter smile told him
he was a fool to trust. Rain thought he
might be just that, because for the life of him, he couldn’t walk away now.
“Yes,
sir.” He let his eyes slide shut. “I trust you, sir.”
The
air stirred in hot currents as the magician stepped in close. Silk whispered against Rain’s cheek and then
settled into place over his eyes. He
could smell the other man on the fabric, a scent of orange and clove that
teased him, that made him wish for the touch of impossibly warm skin against
him. His heart beat hard and fast. But the magician didn’t touch him. Not yet.
It
was cold steel that found his skin. Cold
steel that touched and kissed him. Not
slicing, not stabbing, though his body reacted as if it did, muscles contracting in an instinctive effort
to pull him out of harm’s way.
Instinctive and futile, as the chains clanked and pulled tight at his
wrists. The sword went on as if he
hadn’t moved at all, the tip of it grazing the ridge of his hipbone, rising to
slowly count his ribs. Light as a
breath, the blade traced over his chest, circling each nipple with a deliberate
closeness that made Rain’s breath catch.
“And
still you trust me?” the magician murmured.
Rain
forced a hard exhale. “Yes.”
The
rapier stroked a straight line down from the center of his chest, sharp point
coming to rest in the indent of his navel.
“And
now?”
A
flush crept up Rain’s neck. His groin
flooded with heat. “Yes. Always.”
“Good,”
the magician said, and pushed the sword forward...
___
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