With
her murderous maker still on the run, Cherry has enough on her mind
even before her newly turned boyfriend, Alex, demands they meet each
other's parents. Constantine, her ex and now member of the vampire
council, is suspiciously quick to allow this breach of vampire law.
It soon becomes clear there's a lot Cherry doesn't know about her
family's past.
And
it's threatening her present and her future.
Alex
is changing, Ádísa is dead but not as gone as she should be, and
feelings forced aside are reconsidered. Back in her hometown, and
faced with an overabundance of new information, Cherry is determined
to fight for herself, her family, and her man.
That's
when her world is turned upside down.
Again.
“There
has been a possible sighting of Willoughby.” Constantine motioned
at Liza, and she hurried to refill his teacup.
Gag.
“I
can’t say more at this time, but you should be getting ready for a
trip at short notice,” he said.
Alex
nodded, unperturbed as always by Constantine’s exaggerated air of
mystery.
I
wasn’t that big a person. “You got us out of bed to tell us
someone’s seen the bad guy, but not who or where? What’s next?”
I deepened my voice to a basso. “It will rain one day in the near
or distant future.” In my normal pitch, I asked, “Was that
doomsday-worthy enough for you?”
“Cherry,
this is all I can tell you right now. You have to trust me. What
matters is we may have a clue as to his surroundings, if not his
intentions.”
“A
clue you won’t share with the class.”
“I’m
sure he’ll tell us more when he knows more.” Alex placed one hand
over mine, which I’d apparently fisted without realizing it. His
effort at soothing me had the opposite result.
“He
knows more now.” I locked my gaze on Constantine’s. “Don’t
you?”
Constantine
shook his head and smiled ruefully. “When did you become so
cynical?”
I
scrunched my face in mock concentration, then widened my eyes. “I
know! Must have been about the same time I found out you’d been
lying to me for years, and our entire relationship was a sham. Yup,
that was the exact moment.”
His
eyes were a stormy midnight blue that usually meant anger or extreme
pain. Yes, the man came with preinstalled mood-rings on his face.
I
wasn’t being fair. His maker had appointed him my sponsor. She
wanted me to fall for him, and it hadn’t taken long for that to
happen. But at the time, Constantine didn’t know Ádísa had
ordered my turning. And contrary to her wishes, he’d really loved
me in return. Just weeks ago, he insisted he still did.
Liza
walked up behind Constantine, and laid both hands on his shoulders.
Until that moment, I’d only thought of her as Head Concubine. I’d
assumed all they shared was sex and blood. Apparently, I’d been at
least partially wrong there.
How
well she knew him astounded me. Even though Constantine’s posture
didn’t change, Liza noticed the subtle increase of tension in his
body, just like I did. Thing was, I couldn’t tell if Constantine’s
discomfort was out of guilt over the lies he’d told me in the
past—for which he’d atoned by killing his own maker—or because
he really knew more about Willoughby than he let on.
I
didn’t want it to be the latter. Not when he’d been regaining my
trust. My stomach clenched at the possibility. Instead of asking him,
I said, “Fine, be mysterious. But while we’re here, can you
remind Alex we’re not supposed to keep in touch with our families?”
Might as well get one problem out of the way.
The
tiny lines of tension around Constantine’s eyes smoothed out, and
his jaw relaxed. Was it me, or did my ex seem relieved by my change
of subject?
Before
Constantine could speak, Alex piped in. “I want Cherry and me to
meet each other’s folks. I know it’s not something vampires do,
but I’m still alive as far as my mother knows, and I don’t see
how Cherry’s family would be anything but ecstatic to see her
again. She was never declared dead, just missing, so she can tell
them she was off finding herself or something.”
I
didn’t expect the matter-of-fact way he’d presented his case to
do him any good. What he was asking went against council policy. No
way would Constantine condone it.
Constantine
smiled, his irises now faded to their normal light blue. “We have
been doing things our own way for a while now.” He shrugged,
apparently oblivious to how my mouth gaped at his response. “I
don’t see why you shouldn’t do as you please, as long as you’re
careful. I will, however, be joining you when you visit Cherry’s
parents. As a precautionary measure, in case things go awry. I’ll
have to make some arrangements first, but we should be able to leave
by the end of the week.”
It
was obvious from Alex’s eager expression that he’d go along with
anything to get the go-ahead for his silly fantasy. I didn’t
exactly view things the same way. It was weird how readily
Constantine had agreed.
“Precautionary
measure?” I asked. “You plan to mind-wipe them, if our little
reunion is threatening to the vampire community?” Meaning if my
parents somehow realized I was undead, freaked out, and threatened to
tell the world about our existence.
The
look he gave me was full of scorn. “No.” The word sounded like it
was mentally accompanied by several non-flattering adjectives. “What
I had in mind was that you’ll have a member of the council with
you, in case another vampire realizes what you’re up to. My
presence will make your visit legitimate.” I could swear I heard
him finish his sentence in my head with, “You idiot.”
“Oh.”
Because, what else could I say? He only had our best interest at
heart, and I really should stop being so suspicious of him. If he
said it was all right, it probably was. “Okay then, I guess.”
Constantine
grinned. “Besides, a road trip with just the three of us? Think how
much fun it will be.”
Yeah,
he was hiding something, all right. All this cheer wasn’t normal.
“What’s in it for you?” I asked.
“Just
the pleasure of your company.” His mocking tone and arched eyebrow
didn’t exactly vouch for his sincerity.
Sotia’s
making do with Greek reality, while writing and mostly thinking in
English.
She
loves romances with a twist and urban fantasy novels, always with
vivid erotic elements. Her favorite characters to write are not
conventional hero-material at first glance, and she enjoys making
them fight for their happiness.
Sotia
shares her life and living quarters with her husband, their son, and
two rescue dogs, one of which may be part-pony. Sappy movies make her
bawl like a baby, and she wishes she could take in all the stray dogs
in the world.
Also,
she hates mornings!
One
paperback of Cherry Blossom open to international shipping
3
ebook copies of Cherry Stem (Book I)
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“I received a free copy of the book from the author/publisher for my honest opinion. I was in no way compensated for this review and all opinions are expressly my own”
