It’s time! The Song of the Sparrow, Order of Crows Book Two is LIVE!
Huge thanks to everyone who helped me get to this point. Notably Eugenie Rayner of Magic Lamp Editing Services, and Melissa Stevens of The Illustrated Author Design Services for yet another stunning cover. There are a ton of folks out there who consistently like, share, and in general support me and a million thanks to them, as well. Just a reminder, The Murder Meets at Dusk is free for Kindle for a limited time, so if you’re not caught up on the first book, now is a good time for it. Read on for an excerpt from The Song of the Sparrow!
Aleister draws in a deep breath that’s shakier than he’d like. He quickly scans the circle without actually making eye contact with anyone and gives them a tamely confident smile, arrogant in its modesty. Then he nonchalantly slips the watch from his pocket and clicks it open. The big hand is on the five. Four minutes is plenty of time to piss off some enemies.
“Remember that if the unseelie show up, they’ll just as likely be throwing spells as using their weapons,” he says. “Be ready.” He glances at Cait, who nods, then he walks away. He hopes she can shield them from fey magic, anyway. It’s one of a million unknowns in what’s to come.
He saunters across the field, where he can feel the shield magic begin to tickle the hairs on his skin. The watch chain hangs from his fingers. The thing itself makes his blood rush, gives him a comforting ratification of his abilities.
As he walks, memories of the afternoon replay. Aleister groggily and grumpily insisting that if the others drop the shield he can hold the curse and take out several waves of enemies. The rest of the Murder arguing that the trap he’s trying to set would leave his back open to any moderately-paced attack. Aleister refusing to give them details on how exactly he plans to hold the curse in place for multiple enemies, and also refusing to back down until the rest of them agreed. The enemy would underestimate him, he had said, because his own Murder did.
“Your time must be in very high demand, Aleister Corigan, to have a need to check that watch so often.”
The smooth voice comes from just on the other side of the shield, as close to it as he is. The air grows hazy and hot for a moment, then the scenery blurs as a prim shape follows the words. It’s Shihab wearing the face of a young man, chest bare, loose-fitting pants fading to nothing where a man would have feet. The jinn is smirking.
Aleister answers the sentiment with a smile that fully embraces his darkness. It’s long and thin and dry. He gently closes the lid of the watch, eyes rising like the silver moon. On the surface he’s all calm control, but the presence of this being is much different from the first time they met, before Aleister’s perception kicked into hyperactivity.
Now he can feel the heat of the smokeless fire. It’s an altogether different kind of burn. It hurts to be close to Shihab, like his skeleton has grown too hot for the muscles and organs it supports. Good, he thinks, a little pain might do him well, might keep him grounded.
“The night is still young,” he says in a flirtatious drawl.
He might as well let the dark side out to play. The metal in his hands begins to heat. His movement is anticipation in motion as he slides the watch back into his pocket and says, “My schedule is wide open.”
The jinn’s eyebrows lift in amusement. He watches Aleister’s hand produce a simple cigarette case.
“You are every bit as haughty as I have been told,” Shihab answers. “But we shall break that assurance soon enough. It seems you have already found the first wave of my forces, and surely you think you have done much harm, but that was a small taste of the nightmares that shall be visited upon you this night.”
Aj Elmore, Author 