The full cover reveal to Enchanted Kisses and the prologue told from Caiden. The rest of the book is from Lily's POV.
This cover is one of my favorites and this prologue is a great set up to the story. Enjoy!
*If you like books like Twilight, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and the Vampire Diaries (young adult crossovers that adults enjoy too), this book is a great fit for you!
Pre-order sale at Amazon. Hurry and don't miss out!
PROLOGUE
CAIDEN'S REMOVAL
Lily had been acting quite strange all week. Perhaps longer. All month. Staring in ways that excited me, which was why I had to leave. Today. I should have left months ago, but I had to be sure, and now I was. I could see it in her warm eyes—hazel wreaths of green and brown that reminded me of the forest surrounding the manor in the Realm of Life. The place of my youth, soon to be my home again. Both things she knew nothing about. She stood by my bedroom window, gazing out to the Turtle River. She believed this house belonged to my father, and he traveled for his job in the military. It was how I explained his constant absence and my accent. “I’ve lived all over the world,” I told Lily when she asked where I was from. I couldn’t have told her the truth. My accent came from the God who ruled the realm where I must return. The home I rented in Brunswick, Georgia, and the lie about my upbringing had all been part of the plan to get close to her, until now. She glanced over her shoulder at me as I walked around the bed to where she stood. Sunlight caught her hair—copper, chestnut, and gold intertwined in long waves that swelled down her back as unruly as the ocean off the coast. Before I could stop myself, I touched a ringlet and brought it to my nose. Coconut—a scent I had grown to crave as much as her. I wanted to tell her my secrets, tell her who I really was, but I couldn't. Not yet. She wouldn't understand, and she wouldn't like my true form. Oddly, she preferred the disguise I conjured before I first approached her, which both confused and pleased me. The illusion of a scrawny teenage boy was far less intimidating than my true form and necessary at the time. I hated that I had to leave, especially now. But I couldn't let my family discover my new plan, altered by myself. If they caught on, I'd have no chance of a future with her. Giving into the hold my realm had on my soul—bound from the moment of my birth—was my only option. Do it. Tell her the lie and leave before it's too late. I could already feel the pull of magic drawing my body to its home. But then she smiled up at me. Her big, warm eyes drew me in, stripping me of my façade, of the cold and death that used to fuel me. The sensations were unnerving. I dropped her hair and stepped back. She turned all the way around and faced me directly. Tiny and delicate compared to me—to most—yet she had a presence about her that made me feel small and vulnerable—two words foreign to my kind. She moved closer, her cheeks flushed with what…nervousness? I needed to send her home before my illusion faltered. I’d worn it for too long, could feel it slipping from my skin. I didn't. Couldn't. “Caiden?” Her voice was as sweet as the stargazer lily she was named after. “I-I've been thinking about us. About our friendship.” Her gaze fell away, and her cheeks darkened to a crimson shade. “This is hard.” She cleared her throat and lifted her eyes to mine again. “Lately, things have been different between us. Better. We’re closer. I like it. I’d like to be more if you… if you felt the same.” More than anything, I wanted to pull her to me and confess that I did feel the same. That I had for some time now, but I couldn't leave her with false hope. I'd made too many mistakes already. Leaving now was the right thing to do—the only thing to do. If my father discovered her, she'd be enslaved and hate me—the word hate holding a meaning I never expected, as with the word life. “I’m sorry,” I murmured and forced myself to step away from her warmth. Instantly, I chilled and moved near her again. Mistake one hundred and ninety-nine. “You’re sorry about what?” She touched my chest. I froze. No, I heated. Many times she'd touched me, but never like this. This touch had meaning, motive. Her hand slid to my neck and she pushed up on her toes, moving her face closer. Her eyes locked on mine and her lips parted. Push her way, I thought, feeling my illusion slip. But suddenly, I was helpless to her. She smelled like the beach, the trees, the flowers, the earth. My new favorite scents. She was intoxicating. Failing to resist my desires, I tilted my head down to her. Her gaze widened with hopeful surprise and dropped to my lips. She closed her eyes and pushed higher up on her toes, or perhaps, I was leaning closer. Her lips brushed mine with the lightest contact. Heat exploded inside me like a guided missile seeking out the cold, the dark, the death, and devouring it. With a flicker of sanity, I jerked away and caught sight of my changing skin. No! It was too late. I'd let my guard down, and now I had no choice but to leave her. Her eyes shot open. Hurt and confusion filled them before her exquisite features fell into a frown that zeroed in on my increasingly warmer heart. Light swirled around my arms, drawing her gaze. Her breath caught. Instead of backing away in fear like I thought she would, she asked, “What's happening to you?” “I can't tell you. I'm sorry. It wasn't supposed to end this way.” The words hit her like a blast of cold air, and her skin paled. But there was nothing I could do. All sentries were forbidden to speak the truth to humans. She wasn’t all human, but she didn’t know that half of her lineage yet. I would like to be the one to tell her about her mother and her true origins. My only hope was if I survived my new plan and returned, she would forgive me and allow me the chance. Her features crinkled with worry as she struggled to understand what was happening. I knew her well enough to know what was going on in her head. She wondered if she was hallucinating like her father. I reached for her, wanting to ease her fears, wishing I could tell her this was real and not a hallucination. I opened my mouth, desperate to explain. My throat enclosed the words before they could leave my lips, the spell preventing me from divulging anything. I wanted to blast the room to pieces. Never had I been this frustrated in all my life. She stepped farther away, her wide stare following the twister of silver and gold rays wrapping my body. Each color represented my dark and light halves—two opposites that encompassed my life now more than ever. One last look into those hazel eyes and then she was gone. All of it was. The fake life. The lies. The light. The hope. Death greeted me.
Enchanted Kisses releases on September 2nd! Blurb below.
Enchanted Kisses
What's a girl to do when death is the worst and best thing that can happen to her?
Lily cares for three things above all else: nature, her father, and her best friend, Caiden.
Caiden isn't the typical hot guy, but his eyes glow—sometimes literally—with a confidence and charm that make Lily's heart flutter wildly.
When she kisses him for the first time, he disappears into a swirl of gold and silver that leaves her questioning her sanity.
Three months later, Caiden reappears to explain what happened and who he really is, but Lily is too angry to hear it.
She needs time to figure out her feelings, time she doesn't have because she's being hunted by death—Death Sentries who know the truth about her lineage and want her for gifts she doesn't know she possesses. Those gifts in Death's hands can shift the balance between life and death on Earth and cause mass destruction.
Now, Lily must protect herself against manipulative Sentries sent to capture her, decide if she can trust Caiden, and resist or give into the explosive attraction between them.
But when she learns the truth about Caiden and his original intent toward her, Lily's head and heart go to war. Before long, she's left to question if her life is worth protecting or if her father and the world are safer without her in it.
Happy Reading!
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