The Dark Goddess, Chapter One (spoilers, be warned!)
The Dark Goddess is due out in the UK on July 1st. Below is a link giving you the cover in all it's glory, and Chapter One, in all it's gory. Since it is the sequel, there are spoilers within for those who've not read Devil's Kiss (What? Go read it NOW if you haven't!).
Not for the faint-hearted, but you knew that, right?
What, you want MORE?!? Okay, just for you because I like your face. One of the great things about the setting is the opportunity to explore the greater world, all those extra stories that don't quite make it into the books. I wanted to give you fresh tales that give clues to Billi's future and explain some of the dark events of her past. Over the next two months these short stories will be released on the Unrequired Reading Facebook page. Do check them out.
Baba Yaga
"If you serve me well, I shall teach you the true nature of all things. If you do not, your bones will be my bread and your blood my soup."
Baba Yaga the witch. The cannibal. The wise woman. Tales of her have been around since man first told stories. All cultures have seen her shadow, passing by in the dead of darkness. She is Kali, dancing around the funeral pyres on the banks of the Ganges. She is Hecate, leading her howling hounds across midnight. She is the Morrigan, feasting on corpses on the battle-field.
They say she is the mid-wife of Mankind. If she’d known what he would become, perhaps she would have smothered him in his crib.
Prince Ivan
"My name is Ivan Alexiovich Romanov."
Great-grand son of Princess Anastasia, now last of the Romanov royal line. Ivan aspires to be a Bogatyr, one of the noble knights of Russian myth, but is bound by oath to serve the sorcerer Koshchey the Undying. His world is one of unimaginable wealth and luxury. His ever demand met without question and has been raised to see the world as his, to be used as he sees fit. Then he meets Billi SanGreal. Together they may save the world. But only if they don’t kill one another first.
The Polenitsy
"Come with us, sister. Howl with us. Eat man-flesh with us."
Herodotus called them Androktones, killers of men. They are the legendary Amazons, descendents from the tribes of warrior women that lived in ancient Sarmatia, now southern Russia.
The best of them, the most blessed, have the power to transform into wolves. This is gift of Baba Yaga, their dark goddess.
Led by Old Grey, a canny and deadly warrior, the Polenitsy have come to London to hunt. They know of the Knights Templar.
And they are hungry.
Illustrations by Sarwat Chadda.
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