Master of the Opera, Act 4: Dark Interlude Page 6
Boat?
But she followed his lead still, finding her footing in the small boat that rocked on water so still it made no sound. He helped her to sit and she folded her bound hands in her lap, while he tucked the cloak around her. They moved, gliding, and the sound of oars dipping in and out of the water added to the surreal feeling.
“How is there a lake here?”
In answer, he sang a song she’d never heard, of deep waters that ran under the mountains of time. She floated, on the water, on the music, on the surging desire that made her thoughts melt away.
All she really wanted was for him to touch her again.
But she had cast herself into his power as surely as she’d stepped into this boat that carried her across an unknown underground lake. If she struggled against it now, she’d surely drown. No, the key was to ride along, not to fight it.
She felt strangely serene, giving up the need to fight everything.
Calm and free.
The hypnotic dipping of the oars ceased and the boat ground lightly against a dock. The air seemed warmer here, nearly balmy, as if they’d crossed into another world.
Then the Master was beside her, slipping strong arms under her knees and lifting her against his muscular chest. He stepped up onto the dock, his boots thunking on the wood, then set her on her feet.
“Warm enough now?” His breath feathered across her cheek. She nodded, and he pulled the now stultifying cloak from her. Then he removed the blindfold. “Look.”
She gasped at the beauty of it. The dock fed onto a boardwalk and all along it white pillar candles lit the way. They glimmered off the black mirrored lake water and ascended in tiers up stairs and winding walkways that ran through archways of black-leaved trees. The candlelit paths traced a route up a hillside to a series of towering stones set in a circle. Torches ringed them. The place glimmered with magic and clarity.
“Fairyland,” she said on a breath, then felt silly.
The Master wrapped his arms around her and laid a cheek against hers.
“Welcome home.”
Where has The Master taken Christy? Who are the shadow people writhing in ecstasy within a circle of candles? And once Carla wakes from her coma, real-world danger creeps closer to Christy as she spirals further out of control . . .
In Master of the Opera Act 5: A Haunting Duet, Christy’s loyalties are further tested. Download it March 6, 2014!
About the Author
Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author with a writing career that spans decades. Her fantasy BDSM romance, Petals and Thorns, originally published under the pen name Jennifer Paris, has won several reader awards. Sapphire, the first book in the Facets of Passion series, has placed first in multiple romance contests, and the follow-up, Platinum, is climbing the charts. Her most recent works include three fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns, the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion, and the postapocalyptic vampire erotica of Blood Currency. She is currently working on Master of the Opera and The Twelve Kingdoms, a fantasy trilogy. Jeffe lives in Santa Fe, with two Maine coon cats, a border collie, plentiful free-range lizards, and a doctor of Oriental medicine. Jeffe can be found online at her website, JeffeKennedy.com, or every Sunday at the popular Word Whores blog.
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First Electronic Edition: February 2014
ISBN: 978-1-6018-3159-0