GOLD SPUN by Brandie June

 

TOUR SCHEDULE:https://www.jeanbooknerd.com/2021/05/gold-spun-by-brandie-june.html

Excerpt 2: Nor tries to escape from the tower and Pel comes to her rescue.

I heard the snap the moment before the rope went loose in my grip. I was falling. I screamed as I dropped the rope and scrambled against the side of the tower, desperate to grab hold of any bit of stone. Thorns and rose vines whipped around me, but I didn’t care. A drop from here would kill me.

Desperately, I jammed my fingers against the stone wall, finding a tiny purchase in a chink in the stone, and clung to it, halting my fall. I had only a small handhold on the wall in which to hold myself up. My breath was ragged, my heart pounded in my chest. I flung my other arm against the wall, desperate to find another handhold. The stones were too slippery, covered in moss and vines. My hand ached, my fingers growing numb. I tried to think, but all that came to mind was that I would lose my grip and fall to my death. I tried to adjust my grip, but my hand slipped.

I fell.

I screamed and flailed as thorns and leaves whipped by me.

And then I stopped.

Impossibly strong arms were holding me up.

“I find you in the strangest situations.”

I looked up to see golden hair and glittering green eyes.

“How?” I stared at Pel, completely bewildered. Then I gasped.

Beyond his face, I saw his wings, those delicate dragonfly wings, gently flapping back and forth, making the moonlight passing through them shimmer. His limbs were long and his movements liquid. He radiated light and power as he rose higher in the air, carrying me as though I were a doll, up to the tower window. He managed to fly through the narrow window and still land gracefully on his feet before gently setting me on the stone floor.

I wanted to say something but had completely forgotten how to speak.

“I didn’t expect you to summon me so soon,” he said. His voice was melodic, like the sound of brook or the notes of lute. “Or in such a dramatic fashion.”

“You came.”

Pel’s lip quirked up slightly. “You sound surprised, Nor. It was you who summoned me.”

“I am calling in my favor,” I said, forcing myself to stop admiring the way the lamplight made his iridescent skin glow or how it highlighted his cheekbones and jaw.

“In addition to saving you from falling to your death?”

“Yes,” I said, my face reddening. “Well, that was an accident.” I looked over at the wall where the sconce had been. It had been pulled off the wall. The sconce and the satin rope were now lost in the climbing rose vines.

Copyright © 2021 by Brandie June