Give a warm welcome to Isabo Kelly and her Hunky Hero Einar to our Hunky Alpha Wednesday interview! Super excited to have them both with me today! Take it away Isabo and Einar!
Thanks for having us here today, Rebekah! After a little convincing, I talked Einar (my hunky alpha elf hero from THE DARKNESS OF GLENGOWYN) into answer a few questions.
What’s your favorite drink?
Einar: Sinnale wine. But it’s been a few years since we’ve seen any in Glengowyn.
Favorite food?
Einar: There’s a cook in Glengowyn who makes a delicious venison and wine stew with potatoes and root vegetables. I could eat that stew every day.
Best date?
Einar: I’m personal bodyguard to the king and queen of Glengowyn and the most deadly elf in my city. I don’t date.
Worst date?
Einar: Again, I don’t date. But my worst moment was the day Nuala told me she would abide the sovereigns’ ruling that ended our relationship.
What do you notice first in a woman?
Einar: Her eyes. You can tell a lot about a person from their eyes.
What’s your biggest pet peeve with women?
Einar: I dislike those that feel they can manipulate me with their femininity. I’m no adolescent who has limited control over his body. I’m not fond of the way many of the elves flinch from me either. But that bothers me much less than the manipulation.
Use three words to describe yourself.
Einar: Warrior, deadly, Darkness
If you could meet anyone, who would it be?
Einar: There was a famous blacksmith who lived many centuries before I was born. Given the opportunity, I would like to meet him. He created some of the most magnificent swords ever seen in Glengowyn or Sinnale.
What is one secret that you don’t want people to know about you?
Einar: That Nuala is my greatest weakness. Maybe my only weakness. It’s safer for her that no one knows how important she is to me.
Thanks again for having us, Rebekah!
THE DARKNESS OF GLENGOWYN (Fire and Tears #2)
They’ll risk forever death for one last chance together…
Nuala of Glengowyn hasn’t left her home city in over a century, but not by choice. Her skill as a weapons master has made her a prisoner of her people. Held apart, protected in the extreme—until Sorcerers attack the human city of Sinnale.
Sent to supply her unique magical arrows to help the humans, she is far from free. The elf king and queen have sent a bodyguard, a fearsome warrior whose reputation has no rival. The only man she has ever wanted. Einar of Glengowyn.
Einar is known as a battle-crazed destroyer, so feared among elves he’s called by a single name: Darkness. And he has only one weakness—Nuala. Their union is forbidden, for melding their magics could destroy Nuala’s gifts. Yet as they journey to the war-torn city, no royal decree is a match for two hundred years of pent-up desire.
But even if they escape the war zone, their lives still hang in the balance. They must confront their sovereigns and prove love makes them stronger—or face their deaths.
Product Warnings
This book contains a deadly elf hero, a heroine who’s his match, a lot of sexy misbehaving, some hard language, racing through the streets, owls, arrows, evil Sorcerers, wicked minions, and a very dangerous elf king and queen.
Buy Links
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-darkness-of-glengowyn-isabo-kelly/1118069800?ean=9781619220461
Samhain: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/darkness-glengowyn-p-73397.html
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-darkness-of-glengowyn
ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thedarknessofglengowyn-1490813-143.html
EXCERPT from THE DARKNESS OF GLENGOWYN
Nuala stared at Einar for a few more minutes, caught by his intensity. To escape, she glanced down at his injured arm. “I can wrap that for you.” She gestured to the wound.
He gave it a cursory glance. “It’s only a scratch.”
“But neither of us can afford to have you weakened.” She spun in a slow circle, then started opening doors. When she found a room that contained a couch, she led him inside. “Sit,” she ordered.
Without supplies, her only option for binding the wound was the hem of her riding robe. “Your knife.” She held out a hand without looking at him and pulled up the long length of material.
“It’s not necessary.”
“Don’t argue.” She wiggled her fingers, still focused on the material in her hand. His presence threw her off balance and looking directly at him made it worse. They hadn’t spent this much time together, alone and in close proximity, since…
She didn’t want to think about the last time.
After the knife hilt settled gently into her palm, she sliced a few lengths of silk along the split front hem of the robe. It would leave a wider V in the front, but since they had to travel quickly, she was considering cutting off the length completely anyway. Once the sun set, the early autumn nights were too cold to get rid of the over-robe altogether. It was designed to allow easy, free movement, with slits in front and back so she could sit astride her horse without the long material getting in the way. It had stayed out of her way during the earlier fight too. But those lengths of material could be put to better use. And the less she had to worry about right now, the better.
Once she had sufficient improvised bandages, she turned to Einar. “Take your tunic off,” she said, her voice as firm and emotionless as she could make it.
She tried not to be affected as he stood, removed his scabbard belt, then slipped his short vest off and dragged his tunic up over his head. Unfortunately, she couldn’t hold back her quickly drawn breath when the magnificent musculature of his chest was revealed in full.
This wasn’t the first time she’d seen him bare-chested, but the sight never ceased to stir her. When she looked up, she found him staring at her, his dark eyes black in the dim light leaking in through grimy windows. She swallowed and focused on his arm. Her heartbeat sped as she drew near enough to feel the heat of his skin and smell the tangy combination of his natural spicy musk mixed with the sweat of battle. With Einar, that combination had always overwhelmed her better judgment, targeting her most desperate desires. Only with him.
Yet another reason she’d spent so many years avoiding him.
Though her pulse pounded in her ears, she concentrated on making her hands steady, her touch gentle. She used one length of material to gently blot the worst of the blood away. Some still seeped slowly from the injury, but not enough to be dangerous. Once she’d gotten the area as clean as possible with a dry cloth, she used another length to tightly bind the wound.
His muscles flexed under her touch, which didn’t help. “Relax,” she ordered, her voice irritatingly husky.
He let out a long, slow exhale that brushed over the top of her head, and his biceps relaxed. She noticed at a glance, however, that his stomach muscles were tightly clenched. When she risked a peek at his face, his jaw was also tight, and he stared at the wall across from where they stood.
She turned back to her work, knowing she shouldn’t have risked this kind of proximity for this long. Einar had more power over her body and heart than any other elf. A fact they were both growing more aware of with each passing moment.
When she’d tied off the bandage, satisfied it would do for now, she stepped back and gestured at his leg without actually looking down. “Are you cut or was it just your trousers?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Nothing as in no blood, or nothing as in you don’t wish me to bandage the wound?”
His gaze jumped from the wall to her and she took another involuntary step back. Heat, promise, need and something she didn’t want to admit seeing blazed out at her, an arrow right into her heart.
“You made it clear,” he said quietly, “that your magic was not something you could sacrifice. We should not remain this close. And I should not take off any more clothing around you.”
Her throat was too dry to even swallow. She could feel it, as she was certain he could—the Shaerta. Humans called it elf-fire. And sometimes elf-tears because it was addictive to them. Between elves, it was strong but didn’t cause permanent damage with exposure.
Unless a couple bonded. Elves didn’t form mating bonds simply by having sex. But when they did bond, when there was more between them than a casual encounter, the Shaerta forced permanent changes on them.
What would happen if she and Einar heeded its call, if they allowed themselves to truly bond, was a melding of their magics. The results were unpredictable. She wouldn’t know until it was too late what form her abilities would take after a bonding.
Queen Rohannah had made it very clear that, because of the special arrows Nuala had invented, Nuala’s talents were too valuable to risk.
“You agreed,” she said. “Without any argument, as I recall.”
Author Bio:
Isabo Kelly is the award-winning author of numerous science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal romances. Her life has taken her from Las Vegas to Hawaii, where she got her BA in Zoology, back to Vegas where she looked after sharks, then on to Germany and Ireland where she got her Ph.D. in Animal Behavior.
Now Isabo focuses on writing. She lives in New York with her Irish husband, two beautiful boys, and funny dog. She works as a full time author and stay-at-home mom. For more on Isabo and her books, visit her at www.isabokelly.com, follow her on Twitter @IsaboKelly, or friend her on Facebook www.facebook.com/IsaboKelly