Today I'm spotlighting HEALER OF THE HEART, a fantasy romance novel available from Red Rose Publishing."
http://redrosepublishing.com/books/product_info.php?products_id=622
1.
At first she saw the manse as a dark and dismal place, where torches lined the walls which were covered with intricately woven tapestries and cloths. The walls themselves were constructed of thick rock, and the rooms had furniture made from massive pieces of carved wood. Yet she found she quickly grew accustomed to the place, especially her bedroom. Despite the gloominess of the hallways, the main rooms were kept brightly lit. In her own bedroom, ten tall paned windows opened up to let in air and sunslight. A fireplace graced one wall near her bed that was so big, she could have slept in there with a team of horses and never known it.
2.
Querl folded the letter as he stared out into the darkening twilight. These past weeks the nights had been filled with dreams--dreams framed in bright yellow sunscrystals and eyes as dark as a stormy sky. He felt a hunger not in his stomach, but deeper, more primitive, and much more consuming. Day or night, he fantasized how she looked beneath her robes and remembered how she felt in his arms that day he carried her to her chambers. He recalled how she looked at the banquet, sheathed in the sheerest gossamer, ethereal and achingly beautiful. It all paled in comparison to how his hands remembered every dip and curve of her waist, her hips and buttocks, and the lift of her small, perfect breasts when she'd comforted and soothed his emotional distress. His cheek echoed the heat of her body through the thick, scratchy material of her robe, and the scent that was distinctly hers.
3.
Querl angrily snapped back. "A life, any life, cannot be taken 'too seriously'. In the time she's been here, Mareesa has served you far beyond what is required of a Healer, but you've been prejudiced against her ever since the day she arrived. You've never stopped grieving for Cintas, and that's why you've never forgiven her for taking his place. Isn't that it, Uncle? Isn't that the real reason why you're willing to let her die? In the hopes that someone like Cintas will take her place? Well, Cintas is dead, too! And he won't be coming back, ever!"
4.
A sudden heat flushed Garabanth's face. The venom in his voice became unmistakable. “Since her thirteenth summer, when he came to live at the fortress, that boy has berated her, ridiculed her, harassed and tortured her. He's made her life unbearable. I cannot begin to tell you of the abuse she has suffered because of him. Her only salvation was her entry into the Healers' Circle, where she could escape him for short amounts of time. Because of him, for years Mareesa's believed herself to be unfit, unclean, and undesirable to be husbanded.”
5.
Mareesa giggled, poking him in the ribs. Stepping back, her expression changed. "Speaking of, might I suggest, kind sir, that it's time you applied a little soap and water to yourself? Another hour or two, and we could repel those advancing hordes simply by placing you upwind of them!"
6.
Later, when Patar came to tell them that Horan was doing well but would need an extra day or two to fully recover, all Querl could think of was the way Mareesa had felt in his arms so many weeks ago, and the look of absolute trust in her smoky eyes when she had awakened from her self-induced, healing coma. He had known then, without a doubt, that she would become his whole world.
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