Leading up to the July 14, 2020 release of my latest YA fantasy ELIXIR SAVED, sequel to the award-winning ELIXIR BOUND, I’ll be posting teasers and tidbits on Tuesdays. As always, feel free to share the images.
I know I’ve been saying that ELIXIR SAVED has three point-of-view characters, but that doesn’t count the prologue and epilogue (yup, I went there despite the controversies that seem to arise over prologues and epilogues), which is from the POV of Odeletta, also known as the Ice Queen.
Today you get not only a teaser image, but the whole text of the prologue. Enjoy!
ELIXIR SAVED Prologue:
Odeletta, the Princess of Spring, had been holed up in the frozen wasteland of Blanchardwood for hundreds of years. Her only respite from the cold was the courtyard garden in Kristalis, her ice palace. But there was no respite from a broken heart. Or the bitterness that had turned her more frigid than the coldest of winter days.
Hopes of returning to her former self dwindled with each passing year. Her love, Fyren, had betrayed her, tricked her into loving him so he could steal the power of true love’s kiss. He’d taken what he wanted and abandoned her, never having loved her at all. His true love was power, and there was never enough of that to go around for creatures like him.
Odeletta was the Ice Queen now, and would remain so forevermore.
The problem with stealing another’s power, though, lay in the bonds that tied the two together. A magic that—unlike hearts—was unbreakable. So when Fyren began using that power to amass magic in the old fort of Drim, Odeletta sensed this. For she didn’t know it, but all during her sojourn in Blanchardwood, she had slowly been strengthening. The hurt of a broken heart concealed her growing strength, but it was there. Oh, it was there.
The sensation, a tingling under her skin, a blaze of heat she had felt only one other time in the moment just before Fyren’s lips had touched hers, awakened one frozen morning and set it apart from all the thousands of frozen mornings before. And with it, she became aware of her strength, something she had long thought dead and buried beneath the mountains of snow.
All morning it rippled and wrapped around her, growing like poison ivy strangling a tree. She relished the feeling as it replaced the years of heartache, until finally it burst forth in a spark of fire. An arc of lightning surged into the sky and landed far, far away. With it three messages were sent, irrevocably.
Odeletta, spent of her power, retreated to her garden sanctuary where she would listen, and wait, and feel. For now that she had released her heartache into the world, her insides were no longer frozen. It was exhilarating and terrifying. There was hope once more that spring would return to Blanchardwood, but it would come at a cost. And it was no longer Odeletta who would pay the price.
If the messages were heeded, sacrifices would be made. Lives would be changed. And lost.
About ELIXIR SAVED:
Three lives saved by the Elixir; three lives bound by it.
The Elixir entwines the lives of those it touches. Once upon a time, Kylene, Zelenka, and Devon tasted it and escaped death. None were left without scars. Now, a shocking message from the Ice Queen–one of Mother Nature’s higher beings–sends each survivor on a quest. Kylene travels to the frozen depths of Blanchardwood, Zelenka heads back to the wilds of Faway Forest, and Devon journeys to a reclusive mountain temple. The three paths converge in a war against an ancient and tricky foe. And even the Elixir cannot save everyone. The fate of the world balances on the edge of a sword, and the outcome depends on whether the survivors will sacrifice their second chances.
Escape back into the world of the Great Peninsula in this much-anticipated sequel to the award-winning ELIXIR BOUND. Perfect for fans of the Thrones of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas.
Pre-order it from Bookshop, IndieBound, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Book Depository, Kobo, Smashwords, or your favorite book retailer.
I’m a fan of prologues and epilogues, so long as they are brisk and act as bookends, teasing me into the story and then leaving me contented to know what happened long after. Prologues, especially, are frowned upon for reasons that could only apply to poorly written ones. I like yours.
Thanks, Mirka! I love how you call prologues and epilogues bookends, and it’s perfect description of my approach to them in this book.
I think prologues can add a lot to a book, especially with fantasy, where we often need some background before the story starts. I like your visual here. It reminds me of Elsa and the White Witch from Narnia. I also like her name, which reminds me of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. Well done!
That’s so sweet of you! I agree that a prologue can be just the right thing to bring a reader into a fantasy story.