In the Tower of the Wizard King (Age of Wizards #1)
By: Michelle Miles
Genre: Epic Fantasy with Romantic Elements
Publisher: Michelle Miles
Publication: Sept 1, 2016
ISBN: 9781311611086
ASIN: B01GIALHPC
Pages: 242
Word Count: 112,000
Cover Artist: Erin Dameron-Hill
In the Age of Wizards, Time is a commodity more valuable than gold. When Aoife (EE-fa) stumbles upon an antique trunk in the attic, it calls to her with an ancient magic. Inside she finds a stairway leading into darkness and cannot resist stepping onto that first stair. It leads her to dark truths her mother never wanted her to uncover and love so powerful she walks through time to save it.
Her magic is dormant.
When Aoife Burke rushes home after the unexpected death of her father, she discovers her mother has vanished amidst inexplicable circumstances. She returns to her childhood home to search for clues of her mother’s whereabouts but another shock awaits her. Sean O’Connell, the object of her girlhood crush, has purchased the family home. She senses Sean is hiding something from her, refuses to let her inside and does everything he can to keep her out. A determined Aoife breaks inside and stumbles upon an antique trunk in the attic. When she opens it, instead of the normal musty clothes and ancient letters, she finds a stairway leading into darkness. It calls to her and she cannot resist stepping into the trunk and onto that first stair where it leads her to magical truths her mother never wanted her to discover.
His magic is dangerous.
Sean O’Connell has been assigned by the Inter-dimensional Portal Protection Agency to keep Aoife and her mother out of Faery. But when she breaks into the house and disappears through the portal in the trunk—like her mother—he has no choice but to follow her, even though stepping into Faery will force him to face his past. Keeping her safe and out of the hands of the Wizard King also becomes a fight to save Aoife’s life from her own mother, who has discovered a time portal in Faery leading her back in time to alter her past mistakes, putting Aoife’s life in peril. Sean is willing to do anything to make sure she’s safe. Even if it means he has to tap into his dangerous magic to do it.
She halted
mid-reach, gasping for breath and shoving back against the wall. She couldn’t.
She’d been forbidden her entire life to go into the attic. Her mother made that
painfully clear. She was not allowed and neither was Sunnie.
So why then did
she have the uncontrollable urge to pull down the attic stairs and go up?
Do it, Aoife. Go
up into the attic.
The voice
whispered inside her skull. She had no idea whose voice it was. She didn’t
think it was her own. She was compelled to open the attic and take that first
upward step.
So she did. With
her heart pounding in her throat, she ascended and paused in the darkness
listening to her ragged breathing. She stood on forbidden ground.
Now what?
The trunk.
Again that
voice. She scanned the darkened room, only barely able to make out shapes.
There were the holiday decorations on one side. An old desk on another. She
headed for the desk.
The trunk. The
trunk.
She pressed her
palm against the side of her head and rubbed. She was hearing things.
The desk was
coated in a thick layer of dust that had been disturbed not so long ago. There
were several cubbies with papers sticking out of them in a chaotic and untidy
way and two books that had finger and handprints left behind in the dust.
“Hidden
Dimensions and Fae Time Travel,” she read aloud.
She picked up
the second book, A Hypothesis of Fae Magic in Other Realms, and flipped through
it. She understood none of it as it was written in a language she couldn’t
comprehend. She dropped the book and reached for one of the scrolls when her
fingers brushed one that felt different than paper. Curious, she pulled it out
and untied the faded red ribbon, letting it roll open. Despite the flawless
handwriting, the words were of a language she couldn’t understand. Except for
the two words in English scrawled across the top.
“Eradication
spell?”
She dropped the
scroll and shoved it away as something dark gripped her. Like she’d touched
something forbidden or evil. With her
heart pattering a quick beat, she reached for another scroll. The parchment
fell open on the desk revealing a drawing of an ancient map. The ink had faded.
When she peered at it closer she couldn’t make out the words, which were in the
same language as the book. Something flowery with lots of squiggles and she had
no idea what it said. A small compass was drawn in the lower left hand corner
with north pointing to the right.
Aoife reached
for a second piece of paper. It had been folded and looked as though it was a
page that had been ripped out of a book. Again, the language was strange. Like
nothing she’d ever seen before. As she stared at the faded ink, the words and
letters re-arranged and morphed into words she could read.
A wizard of both
Fae and Wizard blood will come into power and rule from a silver throne.
“A wizard of
both Fae and Wizard blood…?” Her voice was quiet in the darkness.
Something behind
her glowed. She dropped the paper and turned to see a symbol on the top of the
trunk had lit up, like a beacon in the darkness.
The trunk. The
trunk. The trunk.
It called to her.
She was certain she had heard her name coming from it. In a fog, she walked
toward it and dropped to her knees. It was an old steamer trunk. She had never
seen it before in the house. Where did it come from? Was it her mother’s?
The glowing
symbol on the top was an intricate Celtic knotwork circle with a sword through
it. The light pulsed, beckoning her.
The trunk,
Aoife.
“Yes,” she heard
herself say. “The trunk. Of course.”
Her fingers
brushed over the Celtic knotwork and suddenly the interior illuminated. Light
pushed out around the lid. She gasped and opened it. When the blinding light
faded, there in the trunk was a stone staircase leading down into darkness.
“What the
heck…?”
Downstairs, she
heard a door slam and then Sean’s voice. “Aoife? Are you here?”
Step into the
trunk, Aoife.
“Yes, I must.”
She stood and
stepped onto the first stone step. Her racing heart thumped a wild beat and the
next thing she knew she was on the second step. Then the third.
“Aoife, wait!”
Glancing up,
Sean appeared at the top of the attic stairs. She sucked in a sharp breath,
grasped the lid and slammed it closed above her head. She was instantly plunged
into total darkness and hunched down on the step, waiting for Sean to open the
lid and come after her. She heard nothing. No sounds above.
Panic seized
her. She reached above and her hand brushed against smooth, cool stone. She
pushed and pushed and pushed but the stone would not give. She flattened her
trembling hands against where she thought the lid was but again met cold stone
instead of smooth wood. The lid had disappeared. Where did it go?
A cold tingling
sensation went through her as she realized she was trapped. Gasping for air,
she banged the side of her hand against the stone until it hurt, shouting Sean’s
name as hot tears stung her eyes. Her voice bounced off the stone walls around
her, echoing through the shadows. It was useless. He couldn’t hear her. Sean
didn’t follow her because Sean couldn’t follow her. She was trapped.
There was no
going back and there was no way she could get out. Her only option was to go
down. With her pulse racing, she descended into the shadows.
Michelle Miles grew up in North Central Texas in a rodeo town but was far more interested in nerdy things like Star Trek and Star Wars. She started writing fan fiction in high school. When being an archeologist like Indiana Jones or a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader didn't work out, she decided writing was her gig and has wanted to write her own stories ever since.
Her love of romance started when she picked up Victoria Holt and Daphne du Maurier and was immediately smitten with the genre. But she also found another love in the fantasies of Patricia A. McKillip and Anne McCaffrey. Since she couldn’t decide which genre to pick—and because she’s a true Gemini—she decided it would be super fun to write contemporary and fantasy romance. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and has served on the board of several chapters as president and treasurer.
In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music, reading, cross-stitching and watching movies. A Native Texan, she loves castles, dragons, fairies and elves and is an avid Game of Thrones fan. She can be found online at Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Goodreads.
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