I think one resembles a trussed up chicken.
Just harvested 8 bushels of lemons. I’ve got at least 3 more still up in the tree. I’m declaring 2014 The Year of Abundant Lemon Curd. Every season we get some of the oddest lemons. I suspect it’s because our lemon tree has reverted to an earlier and far more ancient genotype. Those pictured above are not even the best. I gave the best to the neighbor’s kids to take to school for show and tell.
Ah, free books! What better way to start the year. I’m starting off with my Four-Book Space Opera Omnibus - The Daughters of Persephone. Go here and upload all you grasshoppers!
Princess-in-exile, Aja Bokinan, is the Thousand Year Empress. While her family has remained in forced isolation for nearly thirty years, women throughout the empire have been banned from public life. Females have no legal standing and they have become little better than property. The restoration of the monarchy is their only hope. Revolution threatens the male dominated Coalition. Resistance forces expect the Princess to be the salvation of the empire. The ruling generals fear she will be its destruction.
Kyr Aram, is a smuggler and secret Resistance sympathizer. He must find a way to protect the Princess from both the general who plans her assassination and a traitor on his own ship who wishes to see her dead. Kyr believes she is no more than valuable cargo. With the Thousand Year Empress, he gets more than he bargained for.
The Lady Ennat, has been sent by her mother to Resistance Commander, Karna Aram for protection. She is a Blood decoy. Her role is to protect her sister Aja, the Thousand Year Empress. She must draw the bulk of the Coalition forces away from the Resistance fighters. From the beginning she’s known she may not live to see tomorrow, yet despite her misgivings she finds herself drawn to Commander Aram.
Karna Aram wanted the woman from the moment she set foot on his supply depot, but nobody touches a Princess of the Blood. He resists his bone deep desire until Ennat challenges him to pick up a sword and spar with her. All bets are off. Karna has a different kind of sword play in mind.
When the Ennat and her sister, Aja, are reunited, they know the Coalition is coming after them. They must risk all to save their devoted fighters and the men they love.
A thousand years have passed since the Empress Aja Bokinan and her consort Kyr Aram settled on Calen. As the legend foretold, a great evil has arisen. Black Frocks scour the planets, searching out women, children and even men with a trace of the Royal Blood, sacrificing them to their dark god.
When they see her mahogany hair and gray eyes, Issa Bokinan’s family flees the village for the safety of the mountains, but even that is not far enough. It is up to The Red Demon, Tem, to hide the young Empress away in the past, teaching her to use her powers, grooming her for the day when she will face the Black Frocks and her own death.
But the Red Demon has a plan within a plan. She’s meddled in the gene pool, producing a man with powers Women of the Blood only dream of. She wants Kane Tirol for her own, but Kane, a Calen man, wants nothing to do with the Red Demon. He is bonded to Issa Bokinan, and not even time can keep them apart.
There is a reason Tem is called the Red Demon. She does what she wants when she wants. No one controls her. Time and space do not hinder her. Worshipped on ancient Earth as a goddess among many people in many different lands, nobody opposes her, except her creations, Issa Bokinan and Kane Tirol.
Having left her own daughters behind on Earth as seed stock for future generations, Tem had hoped to make a life with Kane. That is not to be. Rejected, alone and broken, she seeks comfort in the past with the Empress Ya, on Persephone, promising to behave and keep her identity a secret. Tem is hard pressed to control her worst impulses when she’s caught riding the Empress’ prize stallion.
Horse Master, Aytan Kirrae, cannot believe his eyes. A small Red Woman has just ridden off on the stallion named for him, a horse bred for the Empress Ya. He waits for her return, flipping her over his knee, meting out what he thinks will be a kinder punishment than she would receive from the Magistrate. He has no idea the small Red Woman can kill him with a single drop of her blood.
Pulled along to the future against his will, Aytan thinks he’s dreaming, until he must share the Blood Bond with Tem to save her life. Once he does, his own life will never be the same.
Happy 2014 loves! Jullia
