Narian Summer
Copyright 2007
By Tianna Xander & Bonnie Rose Leigh
Available April 13th, 2007
through Cobblestone Press
The summer heat on Naria used to be a welcome time-a time of fertility and bounty. A time where the Narians celebrated life and everyday worries could be easily tossed aside for momentary pleasure. After three millennia of cultural and scientific stagnation coupled with a blatant disregard for their home planet, the summer heat is now deadly.
As Naria’s citizens prepare to leave their world in search of a new home, three Vampyre find that love can happen in only one day’s time. Lania Cadmus meets her mates, Nicolaos Konstantinos and Herodes Kreios, aboard their ship, The Poseidon, and quickly realizes they are determined to make her their mate.
With only one day to get to know each other before the fleet departs, the men must not only get past Lania’s fear of intimacy, but prove to her that love is all they’ll need to take with them on their journey to a new world.
Excerpt: Narian Summer
Prologue
“The summer heat is going to get worse, Rod.”
Herodes Kreios closed his eyes and nodded, his face turned up toward their dying twin suns.
He could feel the scorching heat against his cheeks, and his heart went out to those who would not survive the coming years. “I know, Nico. All of Naria will suffer greatly if the Council of Elders does not approve Domanus Carrain’s plan.”
“If the council doesn’t approve the high chancellor’s plan, I fear we will do more than suffer. We’ll perish.”
Rod looked away from the source of their troubles and faced Nicolaos Konstantinos, his triad mate and closest friend. He felt Nico’s tremendous sadness through their bond. Standing silent for a moment, he listened to the ever-strengthening waves of the Limni Krysstallos, otherwise known as the Great Crystal Lake, dancing upon the shore. The once delicate aroma of the no longer soothing waters assaulted his nostrils, and he grimaced. How he hated the thought of leaving this place, his home, even though the ecosystem on his world had grown stagnant and was slowly dying. He sighed. “You’re right. However, I fear the elders will not believe the evidence our planet’s best scientists have gathered. They will insist that our gods will not allow our demise.”
“As high chancellor, it is Carrain’s job to convince them of the wisdom of his plan,” Nico said with a grin as he looked out over the churning, brackish waters.
He snorted. “That’s not asking much of him now, is it?” His own gaze roamed over the foaming surface of the turbulent waves. “He just needs to convince the most stubborn and unbending of our people to give up their cushy life here and set out in search of an unknown world-a new home-somewhere in the cold blackness of space. Sure, that’s no problem at all.”
Nico grabbed his arm as he turned to walk away. “Rod, I have faith in him. By the gods, we all have faith in him. Perhaps, it’s time you have more faith in your high chancellor, too.”
“The one thing I have faith in is the belief that our gods will do nothing to save us. For thousands of years we have lived isolated. Our culture has spiraled into a sharp decline while our world’s scientists and citizens grew fat and lazy. And now we will pay for that idleness with the loss of not only our lives but our planet.”
He looked over the murky waters of the lake. Every year the once blue waters grew darker, less transparent. Every year more creatures became extinct and made the ever-lengthening list he kept hidden in his office. Soon there would be no more aquatic life. After that, it would just be a matter of time before all life on this world died. The thick rainforests were almost gone. The unrelenting heat of the suns had already reduced all but the largest to wilted tinder waiting to be touched by the slightest flame to create disaster. They must do something.
“Have faith, Rod. If we don’t believe and support the high chancellor, how can we expect the elders to support him?”
How indeed? Rod ran his fingers through his windblown hair and swallowed, his throat tight. “What would I do without you, my friend?”
“You’ll never have to know,” Nico said, wrapping his arm around him. “One day we will find a new home, a better one, and the gods willing, the time will be right for us to claim our mate to share.”
“That couldn’t come soon enough for me.”
“Once the high chancellor convinces the council that any life away from Naria is better than no life at all…when a future together with our mate is possible, then the time will be right to take her as our own. Until then, we stick together, as it has been since we were but children.”
Rod straightened his spine, forcing his fears away. He glanced over at Nico and slapped his back in camaraderie. “Well, then. Let us hope the high chancellor succeeds soon.”