Rogue’s Possession

  Rogue’s Possession

  By Jeffe Kennedy

  Book two of Covenant of Thorns

  A human trapped in the world of Faerie, in possession of magic I could not control, I made a bargain for my life: to let the dangerously sensual fae noble known as Rogue sire my firstborn. And one does not break an oath with a fae. But no matter how greatly I desire him, I will not succumb. Not until I know what will happen to the child.

  Though unable—or unwilling—to reveal the fate of human-fae offspring himself, Rogue accompanies me on my quest for answers. Along the way he agrees to teach me to harness my power, in exchange for a single kiss each day and sleeping by my side each night. Just as I am about to yield to temptation, I find myself in a deadly game of cat and mouse with an insane goddess. Now my search for the truth will lead me to the darkest of all Faerie secrets.

  Sequel to Rogue’s Pawn, available now!

  97,000 words

  Dear Reader,

  It’s possible I say this every year, but I love October. To me, this is the month that signals the start of a season of hot apple cider, evenings by the fire, and curling up on the sofa with a good book, dressed warmly in sweatpants and a comfy shirt and snuggled under my favorite fuzzy blanket. We at Carina Press can’t provide most of those things, but we can provide the good books, and this month we have more than a few good books!

  In Running Back, the highly anticipated sequel to Allison Parr’s new-adult contemporary romance Rush Me, Natalie Sullivan is on the verge of a breakthrough most archaeology grad students only dream of: discovering a lost city. Her research points to a farm in Ireland, but to excavate she needs permission from the new owner: the Michael O’Connor, popular NFL running back.

  If you’re like me, there are certain tropes in romance that you fall for every time. One of mine is the main theme of Christi Barth’s newest book, Friends to Lovers. (Gee, can you guess what it is?) Daphne struggles with revealing her longtime lust for Gib, sparking it all off with a midnight kiss on New Year’s Eve—only Gib doesn’t know it’s Daphne he’s kissed! Also in the contemporary romance category is First and Again by Jana Richards, which has a special place in my heart because this emotional story takes place in my home state of North Dakota.

  For months, this Red Cross head nurse has been aiding Allied soldiers caught behind enemy lines, helping them flee into the neutral Netherlands. It’s only a matter of time until she’s caught in Aiding the Enemy, a historical romance by Julie Rowe. If you’re a fan of Downton Abbey, be sure to check out the rest of Julie’s historical romances.

  We have two mysteries for readers to solve this month. British crime author Shirley Wells returns to the sleepy northern town of Dawson’s Clough with her popular Dylan Scott Mystery series in the next book, Deadly Shadows. And in Julie Anne Lindsey’s Murder by the Seaside, counseling is murder, but it’s never been this much fun.

  Erotic romance author Christine d’Abo brings us the story of Alice’s obsession with a brooding lawyer at her firm, which takes Alice on a journey of self-discovery through the rabbit hole and into the world of BDSM in Club Wonderland. Also this month, the Love Letters ladies, Ginny Glass, Christina Thacher, Emily Cale and Maggie Wells, round up five sizzling-hot stories to finish off their sexy stampede through the alphabet with Love Letters Volume 6: Cowboy’s Command.

  Edgar Mason is losing Agamemnon Frost despite everything they’ve been through—the passion, the torture, the heat. Frost’s fiancée Theodora is back, and Mason can feel his lover gravitating toward her. Every day he sees them together, it tears at his heart. Don’t miss Agamemnon Frost and the Crown of Towers, the conclusion to Kim Knox’s male/male historical science fiction trilogy.

  Because October is the perfect month for the paranormal, we have a wide selection of fantasy, urban fantasy and paranormal to share with you. In Jeffe Kennedy’s fantasy romance, Rogue’s Possession, neuroscientist Gwynn’s adventures in Faerie continue in the long-awaited sequel to Rogue’s Pawn. And in the sequel to Soul Sucker, a powerful magic user is stealing people’s faces in San Francisco, and empath Ella Walsh and shifter Vadim Morosov have been called in to investigate in Death Bringer by Kate Pearce. Also returning with another book in her Blood of the Pride series is Sheryl Nantus, with her paranormal romance Battle Scars.

  Combining futuristic fiction, fantasy and urban fantasy, Trancehack by Sonya Clark is a compelling cross-genre romance. In a dystopian future where magic is out in the open and witches are segregated, a high-profile murder case brings together a police detective and a witch with unusual powers that combine magic and technology. But dangerous secrets, a political cover-up, and the law itself stand between them. Don’t miss this exciting new world of witchpunk!

  Carina Press is pleased to introduce three debut authors this October. Science fiction erotic romance author Renae Jones gives us a Taste of Passion when lust strikes hard for Fedni, an empath who can taste emotion, but her off-worlder neighbor is horrified by the caste system that the former courtesan holds dear.

  Two urban fantasy authors debut with us this month. In Kathleen Collins’s Realm Walker, a realm walker hunts a demon intent on destroying both her and the mate who left her seven years ago. Also debuting in urban fantasy is Joshua Roots with his book Undead Chaos. When warlock Marcus Shifter performs a simple zombie beheading, he soon finds that the accidental framing of an innocent necromancer, falling in lust, and burning down a bar are just the beginning of his troubles.

  Regardless of whether you’re discovering these books in October or in the middle of summer, any time is the perfect time for reading, and I hope you enjoy all these titles as much as we’ve enjoyed working on them.

  We love to hear from readers, and you can email us your thoughts, comments and questions to generalinquiries@carinapress.com. You can also interact with Carina Press staff and authors on our blog, Twitter stream and Facebook fan page.

  Happy reading!

  ~Angela James

  Executive Editor, Carina Press

  www.carinapress.com

  www.twitter.com/carinapress

  www.facebook.com/carinapress

  Dedication

  To Amazing Agent

  Pam van Hylckama Vlieg

  for loving Rogue’s Pawn and for being the advocate

  for my work I never expected another person to be.

  Acknowledgments

  I’ve developed the very useful habit of creating a list of acknowledgements when I start writing a new book. That way, every time a friend holds my hand or someone tweets something useful, I can note them down and then paste them in when it comes time. For a reason that escapes me, I didn’t do that with Rogue’s Possession. I keep looking for the list I surely must have somewhere, but no.

  So, if I’ve forgotten you, feel free to send me a note to include in the next book. Seriously.

  First and foremost, heartfelt thanks to all the fans of Rogue’s Pawn who wrote and demanded the next book. It means more than you can guess to know you all love these people and this world as much as I do.

  Many thanks to the reviewers at Thebookpushers.com, especially E and Has, for truly living up to their name. Your enthusiasm is a fine and rare thing.

  Thanks to Amy Remus, for being the best fan ever. And for asking interesting questions.

  Thanks and love to the gals (and two guys) of the Land of Enchantment Romance Authors—seeing you all is the highlight of every month.

  Special thanks to Carien Ubink, for beta reading and giving me a crazy-check when I needed it most.

  As always, thanks to the Cone Gang—Laura Bickle, Marcella Burnard and Carolyn Crane—for critique, hand-holding, cheerleading, brainstorming, conniving and other assorted clandestine conversations.

/>   Thanks to my long-suffering editor, Deb Nemeth, for all the hard work making this the best book it could be.

  And also thanks to Angela James and the rest of the Carina crew, for supporting this trilogy and all the many ways they cheer on their authors.

  An official thank-you to Kev, for the light-up pillow. It is beyond awesome.

  Finally, my love and gratitude to David, who keeps me going and makes it worth the trip.

  Contents

  Part I

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Part II

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Part III

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Part IV

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Part V

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Part I

  Tweaking the Experimental Design

  Chapter One

  In Which I Accomplish Several Impossible Things before Breakfast

  Negotiation is the science of the fae culture, providing the guiding precepts for all actions. Virtually nothing is offered without a price attached. Conversely, nothing can be taken from you without appropriate payment. Pretty much.

  ~Big Book of Fairyland, “Rules of Bargaining”

  We were late to the battle.

  As I’d been promised, the Promontory of Magic enjoyed a spectacular view, though I wasn’t there to sightsee. The finger of rocks thrust well out into the ocean, the water the unnatural blue of a resort hotel pool, despite the thunderous surf and driving rain.

  Below, two fleets of sailing ships exchanged fire. They were conveniently arrayed on each side of the promontory, flanking me as if I were a Wimbledon line judge sitting at the net, ready to call faults and points. Except my power was even greater.

  I would decide who lived or died.

  Whether I wanted to or not.

  My hair lashed against my cheeks, stinging me, and I pulled up the hood of my cloak, grateful for its warmth. A gift from Rogue, the cloak magically repelled water. Despite all I’d learned about controlling and stabilizing magic, Rogue’s abilities far exceeded mine. The scent of sandalwood teased me, bringing up warm and sensual memories of his devastating kisses. Rogue managed to be both the bane of my life and the addiction I couldn’t seem to shake. My life had become irretrievably intertwined with the fae lord’s, though I hadn’t seen him in days. His absence made my heart that much more vulnerable to the longings he stirred in me. I tucked them away, where they wouldn’t distract me.

  “Which side is ours?” I asked.

  My fae companion, Puck—a vision in celadon polka dots that clashed quite alarmingly with his strawberry blond locks—gave me a goggle-eyed stare, as if I’d asked which way was up, and pointed at the left side. Good thing I’d asked—I’d thought maybe it was the other. One of the many disadvantages of being a human in Faerie was missing out on their hive-mind shared understanding.

  “It’s a fine day for a battle!” Puck gazed out over the ships with a gleeful expression and I tried to fake the same enthusiasm, despite the dread in my heart.

  Of course, every day in Faerie was fine, in a purely aesthetic sense. The sun, which shone most of the time, did so with lustrous brilliance in depthless skies. The grass glowed an emerald green Oz would have envied. Even the rain shimmered like effervescent and musical drops of platinum.

  Beautiful, gorgeous, yes.

  Don’t wish you were here.

  Seriously.

  In a place like Faerie, the pretty merely masked the reality, which could be horrible indeed. I hadn’t liked my university job as a neuroscientist in the physiology department back in Wyoming, but being employed as a war sorceress sucked far more. Forget the glam sound of it—killing people at someone else’s whim whittled away your humanity in hateful bites. Compared to that, my old tenure committee seemed like amateurs.

  “You recall your instructions?” Puck bobbed his head as he spoke, encouraging me to agree.

  “Piece of cake.”

  Puck cocked his head, puzzled, and I knew my idiom hadn’t quite translated. Usually my intended meaning got through just fine via the telepathic network, but sometimes, particularly if I didn’t pay attention, my good old American English slang created strange images in the fae mind.

  Some gaps could never be bridged.

  “Yes. Darling will inform me of the moment and I will sink exactly half of the enemy ships.” I sent a questioning thought to Darling, my cat Familiar, to make sure he was still on board with the plan, especially since he provided my only long-distance communication access. When he felt like it. Imagine a cell phone company run by kittens.

  “It shall be a battle to go down in history! Victory shall be ours!” Puck galloped off, leaving me alone with Darling’s grumbling narrative in my head, which roughly translated as bored, bored, bored.

  Darling had become my Familiar largely in a quest for adventure, and being stuck with the generals at battle HQ so he could relay information to me annoyed him to no end. He wanted real action. Sometimes his thoughts came across with a disconcerting manly point of view—especially since he communicated mainly in pictures and feelings. He also suffered from delusions of grandeur.

  I had bigger problems, however. The terms of my indentured servitude to General Falcon as pet sorceress in his war dictated that I do as he instructed. The arcane rules of bargaining in Faerie gave me something of an out—as long as I stuck to the letter of our agreements, I could skate around what he really wanted.

  In this case, the drowning death of half the humans in the opposing army. Or navy, I guess.

  I sure as hell couldn’t drown a bunch of innocent humans. The fae might regard their lives as disposable, but I knew the men on those ships had no more choice—or stake—in Falcon’s ridiculous war games than the wooden vessels themselves. Rogue had warned me I’d face this moment if I chose to honor my servitude instead of running off with him. Since I hadn’t been eager to exchange my status for an even more questionable one with Rogue, I was well and truly stuck.

  Don’t think about him.

  A white slice of anger at my current predicament flared in me. Something sharp and alien enough to take my breath away. I shuttered my mind, thinking it came from elsewhere, but it continued its headlong race through my heart and disappeared again, leaving me rattled. This wasn’t the first time I’d felt it since the last battle—like the remnants of a fever dream after you’ve awakened. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but I knew giving it attention was probably a bad idea.

  Instead I concentrated on my goals for the day:

  1. Do what you’re told.

  2. Keep to simple agreements.

  3. Stay alive.

  4. Try not to kill anyone.

  The four habits of highly effective sorceresses.

  I found a rock to sit on, tucked the cloak around me and watched the ships wheeling around, puffs of flame and smoke exchanged, and not much else.

  Maybe it was just me, but I found battle to be incredibly dull. Especially from a distance. I had no doubt it didn’t feel that way for the people actually fighting. As far as spectacles, however, it was terribly overrated. And then knowing that people were losing their lives for no good reason—it all made my stomach clench. There were few combinations worse than horrific monotony.

  Darling had fal
len asleep and I envied him the easy nap. To keep myself focused, I counted ships. Then counted again.

  With a slowly dawning horror I realized there were nine enemy vessels. And I’d agreed in specific language to sink exactly half of them. No matter if I sank four or five, I’d be an oath breaker. My knotted stomach revolted as I thrust away the images of what I’d seen happen to those who violated their bargains. I couldn’t let it happen to me.

  Despite the chill air, a cold sweat broke out over my scalp.

  Could I sink half a ship? And how would I make sure it was exactly half? The sailors and fighters on board would certainly count, and they’d be in motion. It would be next to impossible to make sure exactly half of them—no more, no less—went into the drink. And then how to keep them from dying?

  I tried to make good use of the downtime, planning a spell that might simulate drowning. Darling, clearly just catnapping, showed me a mermaid giggling and cuddling him against her plump naked bosom. I seriously doubted he’d really found any mermaids, but he insisted on the tale.

  Though...didn’t mermaids save drowning sailors? Maybe I could work that angle.

  Darling yawned and stretched. Uh-oh. He sent me an image of General Falcon conferring with the fae noble in charge of the navy. It had to be nearly time, though the battle below looked much the same to me. The fae both looked upset, however, pointing at the sky and growing red-faced.

  From my vantage point, I tried to discern which way they were looking. And then I saw them.

  Dragons.

  Heart thudding up into my throat, I stood, squinting at the V formation of giant reptiles flying through the roiling clouds. They sparkled like jewels despite the gloom, glorious, impossible and terrifying. I’d encountered them only once before, but that had been plenty to convince me to keep my distance. Immune to magic, they were the enemy’s trump card.

  Darling sent a pointed poke, like a claw-swipe to my mind. “Now.”

  I reached deep inside for the place my trainers had taught me to find, that cool and remote spot where I existed without attachment to the world. It came from nothingness. The nothing I had become when they destroyed me before rebuilding me in their image. Almost.