About Exiled to Paradise: The Nine of Pentacles
by
Anah Crow
44 pages /
21800 words
ISBN: 978-0-60370-944-6
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc, epub, Sony Reader pdf
Anyel was exiled to paradise to protect his lover’s position as heir
to the throne of his country. Twenty years hiding as a monk on a remote,
lush island have changed him. Yet, Anyel has never stopped loving Quin,
who now holds the throne. When he is brought back, all he wants is to
fall back into Quin’s arms.
The old world seen through new eyes is full of lies. A man who Anyel
once mocked and derided is revealed as a bastion of decency, and a
glimpse of Quin’s true nature leaves Anyel fearing for his life. Anyel
must protect himself and the few good people he once took for granted,
cure a plague, and find his freedom, while real love takes root in the
untended garden of his heart.
Sample
The new moon brought the end of the fish run, and Bisera lay quietly in
the lull between the rush of silver fish and the ripening of the palta
fruit. Anyel's sandals scraped on the cobblestones as he made his way back
up from the city on the shore, headed for the dark shadow of the monastery
outlined against the indigo sky.
It was a long walk back, longer for the fact that he'd been keeping watch
over an old fisherman's last breaths in a shack down by the sea. When the
scratch and wheeze of the old man's breath had gone and the only sound still
on the night air was the sigh of the sea and the mournful cry of a sand
runner, Anyel had said the blessings, woken the old woman in the next house,
and left the fisher folk to tend their dead.
The mysteries did nothing to stop death, but that didn't keep some of the
people from asking for Anyel to watch over their passing. Others would have
nothing to do with him. Anyel never begrudged the requests or the shunning.
The other brothers were happy to stay home and happy to go forth, just as he
was. They had taught him that flexibility. His rebellious spirit had broken
on the sympathetic stone of their faith.
A stray cobblestone caught the toe of one of Anyel's sandals and, before he
could stop, he felt and heard one of the straps pop under the strain. On his
next step, the sole slapped against his foot and threatened to trip him up.
With a sigh, Anyel bent to unlace both sandals. It's a blessing to go
barefoot, he heard the abbot say in his head. It reminds us of what we have
the rest of the time we go about shod. Anyel was wrapping the straps around
both sandals before tucking them into his belt when something exploded in
his head. His vision flared with blinding stars before everything went
blacker than night.