Baby-daddy drama goes to Hell: Air & Darkness (The Dae Diaries) Urban Fantasy Romance by AK Nevermore Book Tour with Giveaway
Baby-daddy drama goes to Hell
Air & Darkness
The Dae Diaries Book 2
by AK Nevermore
Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance
After nine months of relative peace and now fully dae, Envy is four
days past her due date and beyond ready for the damned kid to move
out and get a job.
But when the warden for the wild hunt
shows up with an offer she can’t refuse—well, not without
plunging the planet into chaos—her impending motherhood takes a
back seat.
Then incriminating photos surface, throwing her
baby daddy's fidelity into question. In the midst of the ensuing
drama, he disappears, forcing Envy to make a choice. Will she stand
by him, or cozy back up to the man who held her heart way back in
Biblical times?
Get ready, because when the truth comes
out, even Hell will feel the fury of a goddess scorned.
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Flame & Shadow
The Dae Diaries Book 1
Half-daemon Envy Starr is destined to die on Midsummer’s Eve, still
a virgin, on some crappy cult’s live-stream feed. With thirty days
left to live, the chance to escape her fate and get some action
compels her into her absentee father’s world of beautifully
cultured cruelty.
Once there, she’s the object of a
deadly game, slated to alter the Fae realm’s power structure.
Worse, the rules keep changing, and everyone has an ulterior motive,
including her dae-licious guide, Brennan. Under a geas he’s
desperate to break, she can’t trust him, or herself.
Stupid
Stockholm syndrome.
But unless she can come to terms with
what lies in her heart, her unlikely survival will be a fate worse
than death. For her, and the rest of Fae.
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“Brennan growled
and offered me his arm. I took it, and he escorted me to the table. All of the
Riders were in attendance and looking dapper. I honestly didn’t know they made
tuxedos that big, and surprisingly, the guys didn’t look like trained gorillas
in them. Stewie definitely had shades of Gomez Adams going on, and the other
two were all mafia-tough. Jonas fell into that category, too, but kept pulling
at his collar. I was pretty sure it wasn’t just the fit that was making him
uncomfortable.
The room was
hella tense, and the table broken out by factions. Anyone associated with Fire
was at one end, then Gaia. She had on a cloth-of-gold kaftan that made her skin
literally glow, and her hair was in intricate braids. She exuded vitality and
beauty, everything that the title of Mother Earth evoked. She also looked
stoned off her gourd.
Aegaeus was
across from her.
Cue the data
dump.
All right, so
look. The All Father wasn’t the only one I had history with. Oh please, like
that’s a huge shock, but this wasn’t like that one time at band camp. This had
been very specifically, that one time after a bris in Canaan. The wine hadn’t
watered been nearly enough, not that I’d complained, and for whatever reason,
Aegaeus had decided to let loose, and I’d totally taken advantage. You know,
that whole opposites attracting—Okay, maybe it was more seeing how far I could
push him, and then he totally called my bluff. What? There was no way I was
backing down, and let’s just say that our sexual game of chicken went further
than either of us intended.
Anywho—I think I
mentioned make-up sex was freaking hot. Well, let’s just say hate sex with
Aegaeus had been steamy.
Literally.
Yeah. So I know
I said after he first merged with Morgana he was all skinny with a shrunken
chest, but that’s not how he looked way back when, or now. Whatever body
sharing set-up he’d worked out with her had let him fully assume his form,
which was basically the little mermaid’s daddy on steroids. His grey hair
flowed across his shoulders all Fabio, and his beard was close cut. He was in
an inky black tux, and the buttons on his shirt were pearls. Anyways, I smiled
at him, and he scowled.
Yup, still hated
me. Moving on.
Kyle—no, the All
Father—was farther down. He was Baywatch meets GQ amazing with some svelte
blonde chippy at his side, the sprite Brennan had mentioned if I had to guess,
and most likely the dumb cunt he’d been referring to, though I doubted she was
wearing a G-string or anything else resembling panties. Not under that dress.
Remember that air ghost with boobs back at the temple? Sprites can turn
corporeal if the mood strikes them, but she probably wouldn’t be able to
maintain it through dinner without frequent reminders. They weren’t known for
their mental prowess. They were known for being wide-eyed, brainless gutter
sluts. Figures the All Father would bring one. He knew they made my teeth
grind. God, I hated bimbos.
Whatever. They
both ignored me, too busy eye-fucking each other.
I ground my
teeth.
At the end of
the table was the Gwinth. He looked good, but so had crypto when it first came
out. His eyes burned gold as they ran over me, and he licked his lips. It made
me want to bathe in bleach. Kennet sat at his right hand in a formal kilt. No
lie, it was the ugliest plaid I’d ever seen. Mustard yellow, periwinkle, and a
weird shade of red that couldn’t make up its mind to go orange or purple. His
calves made up for it. They were super impressive in those tight fringed socks.
Brennan pulled
out the chair at the end of the table, and I sat, all eyes less two pairs on
me.
Well, wasn’t
this nice.
I smiled so I
wouldn’t scream, and Brennan tapped the side of his glass with a butter knife
to get Joanie and Chachi’s attention. Everyone else was already rapt. Some of
them disturbingly so.
“I appreciate all of you bringing your candidates for
representation.” Brennan glared at the All Father, and he didn’t seem to
notice, still intent on that sprite. Was he trying to make me jealous? What?
No, it wasn’t working; it was just rude.
The imps came in
with salads. It was one of my favorites. Hearts of palm with supremes of citrus
and sliced fennel bulb. I munched as Brennan continued.
“As of midnight
tomorrow, none but those formally approved by all parties shall have access to
Envy. We’re in agreement that the rota will run from sunrise to sunset—”
“I’m not getting
up at sunrise.”
“—until a
consort is chosen. The proscribed hours are traditional, Lovely.”
“I don’t care.”
I batted my lashes at him. If I had to play along with this crap, I sure as
hell wasn’t doing it at the ass-crack of dawn. “Ten to ten.”
“That cuts into my hunting time,” the Gwinth said.
I rolled my eyes. “Boo-freaking-hoo. Being dead will cut
into it more. Have fun with that. I agreed to let you court me, not rearrange
my schedule to suit yours. Take it or leave it.”
His eyes
glinted. “Oh, I firmly intend to take it.”
Asshole.”
I sat up,
pulling the airy duvet around me, then dangled a foot to the floor. It landed
on the softest sheepskin rug you could imagine. I scrunched my toes in it,
staring through the window to the blue-green water spreading out to the
horizon. I sure wasn’t in Vel City anymore.
Taking the
duvet with me, I crossed the goldstriated marble floor. There was a door that
led to a wide, white, stuccoed balcony with clusters of big, leafy plants in
turquoise pots. I was surprised to find it unlocked. Sad, huh? Outside, it was
just water and sky.
The sun was
magic on my skin, and I raised my face to it, soaking it in with my eyes
closed. It was a balmy, wet heat. The kind that makes you feel like you’ve got
a steamed towel wrapped around you. That, the blistering sun above… I dropped
the duvet and gave a huge sigh, letting it beat down on me. The steady breeze
flicked my hair against my backside, and I smiled, wondering at my luck waking
up in paradise.
“And I’d
thought that view couldn’t be improved.”
I spun at the
cultured European drawl, scrabbling up the duvet and clutching it to my chest.
My heart was going gangbusters, and I’d flushed scarlet. The daemon that’d
taken me sat at a small breakfast table tucked amidst that potted jungle of
greenery. No wonder I hadn’t seen him. Asshole could’ve let me know he was
there before I’d dropped trou.
His ankle was
crossed over his knee, and he was reading the paper. He wore charcoal slacks
and a crisp white shirt, the sleeves rolled up and the collar open. A large
gold watch was on his left wrist. There was no trace of gray in his jet hair.
The top was long, and it’d been slicked back. He was clean-shaven, and let me
just say, holy freaking drool. I swallowed, and he grinned an impossibly white
smile.
“Good morning,
Lovely. Come, sit. Have something to eat.” I didn’t move, and he slid out the
seat next to him with an oxford-shod foot. “Please, I promise not to
bite.”
His smile said
something totally different.
Jerk was
playing with me, and my temper jumped. The dimple in his cheek deepened, and
the last thing I felt like doing was eating, but you don’t just tell a fae to
piss off and expect to walk away. They had a thing for manners. I sat, trying
to dig mine out, and a small woman in a uniform came over with a plate of
crepes.
She set it in
front of me. I stared at her pebbly skin. Her smile had too many teeth, and
they were super pointy.
Not a woman,
an imp.
“Uh…thank
you?”
She nodded
curtly and left, toe talons tapping. I paused before picking up my fork. Taking
anything from a fae was dicey—
“You have my
word that nothing offered in my home will indebt you to me.”
I made myself
meet his eyes. “Is this your home, and will it indebt me to anyone else?”
“Clever
girl…it is, and no debts will be claimed by any other. I offer no promises
beyond that…unless you’d care to bargain for more?”
“No.”
“Pity.” He
snapped his paper back up, and proceeded to ignore me while I ate.
I tried to
study him from beneath my lashes as I did. He was too young to be the one I’d
seen with my mother, but what were either of them doing? Fae in general were
high rollers, living the lifestyle of the rich and famous. They didn’t slink
around Priories and in undercity pubs. I could write off my mother with one
given her past, but me? I was a nobody. It didn’t make sense. Neither did the
golem. I started to feel weepy, and that made me mad. So did the daemon’s eyes
crinkling at me over the edge of the paper as my stigmata flared with my
temper.
I stabbed a
stupid crepe, trying not to think about Kyle and Berk back in Vel. I was sure
they were okay. I just wasn’t sure I’d ever see them again. Who was I kidding?
They, and everyone else in the pub, would’ve written me off, and they’d be
right to. I told you, getting snagged by a fae had a survival rate of zero. At
least, nobody I’d ever heard of had come back to tell the tale.
Despite my
cheery thoughts, I won’t lie, the crepes were just about the best thing I’d
ever eaten. I figured I could die happy with them in my stomach. The imp seemed
pleased when I said so and asked for seconds. As soon as I’d finished, the
daemon tucked away his paper and lit a long, gold-filtered cigarette. The imp
came back with espresso. I was feeling fancy and had mine with a twist.
“Thanks for
that with the golem… I mean, it was a golem…?”
He blew out a
long stream of smoke. It was a gross habit, but he made it look worth taking
up. “Yes, and you’re welcome.”
“Uh, any idea
why it was there?”
“For you,
otherwise it wouldn’t have revealed itself.”
He didn’t seem
particularly concerned, but my mouth went dry. Had he been watching me? Did he
have anything to do with the dae Calista had been screwing? And more
importantly:
“Are you going
to eat me?”
He took
another drag and raised a gorgeous eyebrow at me. “Would you like me to?”
Yeah, I just
about died. That totally wasn’t what I meant.
AK Nevermore enjoys operating heavy machinery, freebases coffee, and gives up sarcasm for Lent every year. A Jane-of-all-trades, she’s a certified chef, restores antiques, and dabbles in beekeeping when she’s not reading voraciously or running down the dream in her beat-up camo Chucks.
Unable to ignore the voices in her head, and unwilling to become medicated, she writes Science Fiction and Fantasy full time.
She pays the bills editing, wielding a wicked hot pink pen and writing a column on SFF. She also belongs to the Authors Guild, is a chapter treasurer for the RWA, teaches creative writing, and on the rare occasion, sleeps.
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This looks really good. Thanks for sharing and hosting this tour.
ReplyDeleteI would enjoy reading this one. Sounds good.
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