It's 1767.
For three years, the province of Gévaudan, France has lived
under the terrifying reign of the Beast. The death count continues to rise.
It is into this Beast's woods that Constance throws herself,
desperate for escape from a life she finds more horrifying than the thought of
her province's monster. What she does not expect to find is a man.
Tristan, the half-masked noble from a neighboring province,
is one of many young men come to hunt the creature. The last thing he expects
to find is the beautiful Constance, but find her he does.
Can two wounded souls overcome the pain of the past and the
trials of the present to find one another, amid a time of terror and blood?
Excerpt
17 May 1767 ~ Gévaudan, France
The young woman rushed into the forest. Fingers of shadow grabbed at her
fine dress and twigs clung desperately to her hair, hoping its shimmer might
help them bloom after the oppressive, long winter. She ignored both, fleeing
the sun for the welcoming unknown in the thick trees of Mont Mouchet.
She wondered if anyone would miss her at home before it was too late.
Would they come looking for her? She doubted they would even find her if they
did. This mountain was infamous for its mystery and the way a person, or beast,
could lose themselves in it forever if they wanted to. At least, that's what
she was counting on.
Cloth ripped and pieces of underskirt abandoned her as holes appeared in
satin. Chestnut brown curls broke free and leapt to their death from the pile
at the top of her head, only to discover they were stuck in place and could do
nothing more than hang limply along with the rest. She ignored all of it,
because it didn't matter anymore. Or it wouldn't, if she was successful.
Constance Marie de Marin stumbled into a clearing that the tree line had
hidden from her until she found herself in the middle of it on her hands and
knees. It might as well be here. It wasn't like there would be a sign marked
for what she sought, or anyone she could ask. She was on her own, just like she
had always been and always would be.
"Please," she shouted at the trees. Her aunt would be ashamed
to hear the unladylike tone, but being ladylike wouldn't get her anywhere now.
It hadn't gotten her anywhere before. "I know you're out there. Everyone
knows that you're out there! You kill women and children when they dare to
enter your land. You love this mountain. I have heard them talking about you
and this place." She paused. "I listen to them all when they talk and
I know that this is your favorite place. I'm deep in your woods."
Wiping her nose
with the back of her hand, she pushed herself to her feet. Her chest felt so
tight that it drew the rest of her body inward. Her heart thundered. "I
know that you must be out there. I am a woman alone in your forest! Please!
Come kill me!"
****
Mia Darien has lived in New England all of her life and
knows that no matter where she goes from here, New England is always going to
live in her. Presently, she still lives in the land of snow and fast talkers,
with her husband, her son and her pets. She writes a bit of everything genre
fiction (horror, romance, mystery, fantasy and science fiction) and thinks it
sounds like an odd joke: a unicorn, a space monster, and a pair of zombie
lovers walk into a murder investigation…
Find Mia online:
Author Site: http://www.miadarien.com
GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/mia_darien
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MiaDarien
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/author.miadarien
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