Flame of Justice - an early peek

So I will not tell how I got this little peek of the Flame of Justice but it was completely above board!

Flame of Justice is the second book in The Ferryman and the Flame series by Rhiannon Paille

Check out my interview of Krishani and mini review of book one, Flame of Surrender here. 

Don't forget the giveaway for Flame of Surrender here.

Flame of Justice is scheduled to release in in October 2012.  But I have a little peek for you.

        

           Krishani sighed and looked at the stars. The vastness of the lands stretched into a thousand tiny dots. The day had been the longest since he had left Avristar and it would only continue until the war was over. He closed his eyes, getting lost in memories of Kaliel all over again, the softness of her smile and the shining greenness of her eyes.

            Wither in desolate loneliness and bring the forests to their eternal slumber, Triumph in faithful patience and bring the forests of their eternal summer.

            Shivers ran up his spine. The words of the Great Oak, the words he had almost forgotten. He couldn’t imagine why his mind would take him there, now. He had hated the tree since the time of his youth in Avristar. Surrender, the only word the Great Oak had said to him when he pounded his fists against the tree in rebellion. He would never let Kaliel go. She had wound herself into his heart and it was her Flame that kept it beating day after day, even when he had nothing left. He only left Avristar because she had told him to. If it had been up to him he would have rather had the axe of destruction fall on him, forcing his return to the Great Hall and leaving the Tavesins Ferryman less.

            He sighed and opened his eyes. Aulises was staring at him, her green eyes full of innocence and curiosity. She looked away when he looked at her. He turned his back to her, but then there were shuffles behind him, footsteps in the sand, a dress swishing around in the wind. He felt the log shift as she sat down.  He stole a glance in her direction, she was focused on the fire, grief etched into her features. He thought she must have seen roughly sixteen summers, give or take a couple, her tiny body made it hard to judge.

            “I have no home,” she whispered.

            Krishani gulped. He looked at the fire and remembered the morning he had woken up with Kaliel in Nandaro. She had said the same thing. Even with melancholy making the girl look distinctly unlike Kaliel, it was still a biting thought.

“I know the feeling.” He went rigid and watched the salamanders dancing in the flames. He tried to let his thoughts drift away from the girl and her similarities. As the silence ensued, he slipped back into the dark thoughts that kept him occupied every other moment of the day since the attack on Avristar. He loathed the idea of facing off with the Daed a second time. This time he vowed to look into the eyes of the foe that brought her to her death. He needed to see the cold terror of the one who had taken her life. He shuddered unexpectedly and felt a hand on his leg. He glanced down, Aulises’s hand was on his thigh.

            Wild anger rushed into his body. He glanced at her, an apologetic and suggestive young girl with bright green eyes bored into him. It took no time at all to know what the girl wanted. He was disgusted and appalled. He ripped himself off the log and drew his sword. “Harlot!” His eyes went wide and she turned fearful. Krishani held the sword at her throat, his entire body pulsing with reproach. “Look at me that way again and I won’t think twice about cutting your throat.” His voice was low and uneven. It hurt to get the words out.

            Aulises scrambled backwards and fell in the sand. Her eyes flashed with the same murkiness as her family. “You like me,” she sneered, her lips twisting into a devious smile.

            Krishani stepped over the log, his lips turned up in disgust. He clenched the sword tighter and pushed it to her throat. “You’re a thieves’ daughter. I feel nothing for you. I will never feel anything for another so long as I live. Mark my words. I won’t hesitate to kill you.”

            Aulises dipped her head back and let out a sob that sounded more like laughter. “End me. I have no family and nowhere to go.” She said it slowly, her bare neck exposed, the sword pointing at it. Krishani froze.

            He blinked, heat rushing into his extremities.

            “Krishani!” Shimma called from the cabin. She ran across the sand, pausing when she was close enough to the girl.

            “What are you doing?” she asked.

            Krishani hung his head, he couldn’t kill her, not when she looked so much like Kaliel. It would be like ending her himself, and he could never do that. He blinked and pulled the sword away from Aulises’s throat. He clumsily fumbled with it and eventually shoved it back into the scabbard.

            Shimma knelt down beside Aulises as she sat up. “He looked like he needed comforting.” She sounded meek again, nothing like the devious girl Krishani had faced moments ago.

            Krishani made a guttural noise with his nostrils and stalked towards the cabin. “Keep her away from me.”