Bad Sun Rising

     “Did you send Issy overboard?” Cathan asked incredulously, as he sauntered from the upper to lower deck.

 

     Mira pointed the rusty tip of Isidore’s beloved blade against Cathan’s chest. “The Dreaded Pirate King Cathan Emyr decides to join his crew and prisoner.”

 

     “You’re not a prisoner," Cathan snored at the thought.  "But either way, I cannot have you terrorizing my crew." Leaning in, he whispered, “Some of these folks can’t swim.”

 

     “Then they are tempting fate, are they not,” Mira didn’t move the sword and Cathan returned to his normal stature, before the blade cut his skin.

 

     Muttering to himself, Cathan noted, “Most sisters are more loving when their long lost brother returns from their time on the high seas.”

 

     Unmoved, Mira replied, “Most brothers do not need to kidnap their sisters.”.

 

     "Kidnap?" Cathan dared to sound offended, as if his silver tongue had ever worked on Mira. Siblings were immune to each other's power. "Kidnap? I save you from an arranged marriage and this is the thanks I get?"

 

     "Thanks?" Mira was equally as incredulous. She raised the sword to rest at the base of Cathan's throat. "Take me back, Cathan, before my virtue is too far gone in the eyes of the nobles."

 

     Cathan's features became deep-set with anger and unhappiness. The idea of Mira catering to a social class that didn't deserve her, trapped forever in a boring game of pointless, frivilous rules. Before he could reply, Isidore heaved himself over the side of the boat and collapsed on the deck. Drenching in water that pooled at his knees, Issy gasped, "No, don't worry about me. I'm fine, just being swept out to sea. 

 

 

Did you enjoy the excerpt? That's not even a hint of what is to come when you begin the House of Kendrisk. Dysfunctional doesn't begin to describe Mira's family.  Both parents tragically passed away long ago, leaving Mira as the ward of her oldest brother Lawrence. Her second brother, Cathan, is illegitemate and runs off to sea, returning as a feared pirate who secretly works for the King. The family propety is not far from the neighboring country of Raudhri or the long since abandoned House of Kendrisk in which Cathan and Mira used to sneak away to explore. Tensions are already taut with Ruadhri, but they boil over when the princess sneaks off to visit Mira and is captured instead. Mira sets out to answer that magical call she feels pulling from Ruadhri, but if she's going to save the princess, Mira is going to have to learn why she is so connected to the abandoned house of Kendrisk.