Elizabeth Hunter's Blog

Coming July 29A brand new vampire. The lover who got her killed. And a desire neither can deny.

 

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Tatyana Vorona used to be human… until she met the dark and mysterious Oleg Sokolov. He lives in a world of power, blood, and betrayal. And now so does she. 

By helping him, Tatyana helped herself to an early grave. Then she rose again as a vampire with the ability to manipulate water. Tatyana is in hiding, trying to master her magic, blood lust, and the terrifying draw she still feels toward the man who set all this in motion.

He might control fire, but flames of desire have a will of their own.

Oleg’s empire was shaken by his daughter’s betrayal and the bloodshed that followed. Now someone else is trying to take advantage of the chaos to destabilize his rule further. He should be hunting them down, making an example of anyone who dares to challenge him. 

Instead, he’s searching for her. No matter how far Tatyana runs, he’s determined to return her to his side. And when it turns out she’s hiding right underneath his nose, he’ll do whatever it takes to make Tatyana his. Permanently.

Fire and water collide in this steamy romantic fantasy about a new vampire that won’t submit and her powerful lover who must learn to bend in order to keep her. CRIMSON OATH is the sequel to BLOOD MOSAIC, and takes place in the same expansive world as Hunter’s popular Elemental Series. 

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From Crimson Oath…

“Will you give your daughter a message?”

“I am not your messenger girl,” Anna said. “If you want to kill me, kill me. I don’t get involved in my daughter’s love life.”

“It’s not about her love life.” Oleg felt his skin heat.

“Well, it seems to me that you are very interested in Tatyana, and since she’s not working for you anymore, I don’t know what other reason—”

“There are people who want to kill her.” Oleg didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t believe in raising his voice. He believed in others quieting down so they would listen.

Anna went quiet. 

After a long moment, she asked, “Who? Who wants to kill my daughter?”

“My enemies.” It wasn’t a lie. Necessarily. 

“Why would they want to kill her?”

Because I care about her.

He wasn’t going to tell Anna that. 

“She’s young,” he said quietly. “My daughter bragged to the immortal world about her clever human bookkeeper, and now that bookkeeper is a vampire, and she’s a vampire with connections so good that she was able to make her mother disappear.”

“Why is that anyone’s business but hers?”

“More than one of my kind is worried that if Tatyana could steal money for Zara and get away with it, she could steal money from them too.”

“She wouldn’t,” Anna snapped. “Tatyana is an honest person.”

“Do you think so? She stole from me.”

“I don’t believe you. My daughter is not a thief.”

Oleg saw the wheels turning in Anna’s head. That was all he needed. He just needed Anna Asanova to reach out to her daughter, then he could track Tatyana down.

Oleg finished his tea and stood. “I am trying to help your daughter. I’m trying to keep her from making more mistakes. Drawing more attention to herself.” He walked toward the door. “The next time you speak to her, tell her that I’m looking for her, and so are others. Tell her that whatever mountain cave she’s hiding in, she’s going to have to leave eventually.”

Anna lifted her chin. “And you’ll be waiting?”

“Yes.” Oleg nodded. “I’m immortal, Miss Asanova. I can wait a very long time.”

So I originally put all of this into my weekly newsletter (which is the best place to find out what is going on with me, so you should subscribe.)

But then I didn’t want my newsletter to be a giant bummer, because I try to keep things lighter and fun there, so I decided to be a bummer on my blog. YOU’RE WELCOME.

I have had two audiobooks release in the past six months, one for Tin God, and one for Blood Mosaic, and First Light is coming very soon.

And by far, the most common question I’m getting these days in messages, emails, etc is: When will your new audiobooks be coming to retailers? Tin God is available at retailers, but Blood Mosaic is still only available direct.

This answer to this one is complicated, and I hate dumping all the inside-author nonsense on you guys, because you just want to buy books, right? UGH. I hate doing it. But it’s a complicated answer, and I want to be transparent.

The deal with audiobook retailers right now is that most of the deals for indie authors are trash. Just straight up trash. We produce these books for thousands of dollars. First Light and Blood Mosaic were my two most expensive audiobook productions ever, and I don’t mind doing it, because I want to have the format available for you audio fans, but it’s also a TON of upfront investment. Way more than ebooks, because I won’t do AI narration.

And yet, audiobook retailers—from Audible to Apple Books to Spotify to Hoopla to ALL OF THEM basically—pay us peanuts. I mean, Audible pays me less than $4 for each sale and THAT’S the good one. Yeah. That’s a GOOD royalty for an audiobook that you guys pay $15 and up for. Subscription services pay us pennies. Libraries? sigh (But at least it’s a library and I love them.) Spotify is… bad. So bad. 

I love that you all have so many listening options out there, but the way the market is going, they are creating an environment that the only people who are going to be able to make money from audiobooks are giant companies who control the market. Which just sucks.

So let’s look at some real numbers so you guys know what I’m dealing with. I have never done this before, and it feels a little like I’m walking around naked, but again, I want to be transparent.

Audiobook production costs for Blood Mosaic: $4428.00

Units sold direct: 65

Current profit from audiobook: $1174.84 

Sales needed to break even: $3253.16

Miniumum units to break even DIRECT SALES: 163

Minimum units to break even RETAIL SALES: 814

So yeah. Those are the real numbers. In order to JUST BREAK EVEN, I need to sell 163 more units in my direct store where I keep 95% of the profits.

With retail sales, I will have to sell 814 copies of Blood Mosaic IN THE BEST CASE SCENARIO. Most retail “sales” will not pay me $4/copy. Most of them will be borrows, which give me pennies. And if the book is pirated, cut into that even more.

So what are MY options? Well, I could sign away all my rights and have no ultimate control over my audiobooks. And I have done that! Some of the projects have been great. And some have been… not as great. I’ll leave it at that.

Or I can stick with direct sales from my store ElizabethHunterShop.com and I realize that that costs more than borrowing from the library. I know it’s a sacrifice for you guys. I fully realize that some readers/listeners will not be willing to pay that, and I accept that. BUT until I can decide what I’m going to do and how I’m going to distribute in this market, I’m going to be releasing just in my store for now. 

I’m trying to figure out a release strategy that allows me to pay for these productions and still be affordable for you all, but the release of Tin God last year was… not good. So I have to regroup. 

For NOW? Buying from my store is the best and only way to listen until I figure out what distribution options I can live with. And if you’ve read this far, you deserve to get in on the early release!

Right now, First Light, narrated by Audie-nominated narrator, Ava Lucas is on special for $14.99 in my direct store! That’s slightly over a dollar an hour for 14 hours of professionally performed audio. (Or two and a half iced lattes at Starbucks, if you calculate it that way.)

I really hope that when you think about it those terms, $14.99-$19.99 seems like a reasonable price for an audiobook.

Take care of each other, everyone! And have a great week.

Charlotte the Poodle: September 15, 2013 – January 6, 2025

It’s been a very hard week.

We very abruptly lost our eleven-year-old standard poodle Charlie on Monday, and it’s hard to express just how awful that is, and how much you want the world to just… stop. And pause. And recognize the enormous loss you’ve suffer when you lose an amazing animal like Charlie.

Unfortunately life doesn’t stop. It goes on, and so I have to keep chugging along and doing all the things it takes to be alive and run a business and buy groceries and get dressed in the morning. I just have to do all those things without Charlie waiting patiently for me.

Charlie was a stellar dog in all ways. She was the first poodle I ever owned (though my mom has had standards for years) and the moment I got her, I understood why so many writers adore poodles. 

John Steinbeck, Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Gertrude Stein, and Erma Bombeck were only some of the famous writers who wrote with poodle assistants, and indeed, part of my motivation for naming Charlie was my love for Steinbeck. 

Standard poodles are remarkable companion animals. They are affectionate yet independent. Smart and very easy to train. Their temperament leans toward calm and centered, yet very doggie in all the right ways.

Charlie could be shy—even more reserved than the average poodle—and she took a little time to warm up to strangers. She didn’t like people to come at her, she preferred approaching them. If you were the lucky person to immediately win her affection, consider yourself blessed and your lap would be nearly constantly occupied with her very fluffy head.

She was the dog that my friends brought their dog-shy kids to meet. You might be afraid of an overenthusiastic Labrador, but it was nearly impossible to be afraid of Charlie. Her hair felt like a chenille blanket, and petting her was like touching a stuffed animal come to life.

But though she was shy, when Charlie was with her people, she was pure, bounding joy. She loved zooming around our front garden while I was working or visiting friends. She adored exploring the forest behind our cabin in the Sierras, where she was able to run and jump over trees and sniff endless squirrel trails, or bark at bears (real or imaginary) in the distance. I never worried about her wandering too far. She always kept me in sight. 

Charlie was my sure companion and a wonderful guardian if I needed a weekend by myself. If I had her with me, I was never lonely.

The last year or so Charlie slowed down a bit, though she was an enthusiastic big sister to Coco, our mini poodle, and she was the object of adoration for Simba, our little rescue pup with the heart of a lion.

We didn’t realize that she had liver cancer, and the mass that had grown on her liver had next to no symptoms until it burst and caused internal bleeding that would be prove to be fatal. She didn’t have a lingering illness, severe discomfort, or shock. In fact, Charlie was her happy self right up until the morning she passed. I will always be grateful for that.

There is no replacing a dog like Charlie, so we have to go on, and I will personally enjoy the idea of her running through the forest with her big brother, Mac, who ran across the Rainbow Bridge nearly five years ago.

I’m sure there are all sorts of new sniffs to share.

I hope wherever you are, you’ll take a chance to be kind to a dog today. They’re really extraordinary creatures. Cuddle your furry or scaly friends of any species and appreciate them while you can. 

And in honor of Charlie, I’d ask you today to learn a few poodle lessons: 

Be patient. Not everyone is lucky enough to be a poodle. You have to brush your hair, so don’t squirm too much. Just get it over with bravely.Enjoy your chewy without gobbling it too fast. If the opportunity to steal good sourdough bread off the counter comes along… DO IT. It’s worth any temporary scolding.Same goes for fancy leather journals.And finally, don’t forget to be kind to the humans around you… even if they can be a little scary sometimes.

With love, Elizabeth

 

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Tatyana Vorona has no idea that she just made a deal with a vampire. When the naïve human bookkeeper offers to help locate embezzled funds for a wealthy CEO, she doesn’t realize she’s being set up as bait. 

Oleg Sokolov is a fire vampire as ancient as he is vicious. It’s bad enough that his daughter stole money from him, but now she’s sought refuge with one of his bitter rivals. He wants her back under his control, and he doesn’t mind using Tatyana to draw her out. 

But as Oleg spends more time with Tatyana, he begins to want her for more than just revenge. When Tatyana is attacked, Oleg is forced to reveal his true nature to save her. Can he convince her to stay in his bloody world when he’s the reason she’s in danger? 

Dark and compelling, BLOOD MOSAIC is the first in a new series from USA Today Bestselling Author Elizabeth Hunter, set in her popular Elemental universe. 

The Firebird and the Wolf is a series that I’ve been waiting about… NINE years to write. YES. Nine years. Even longer than Ben and Tenzin. I first wrote Oleg into the Elemental universe in 2012, but it wasn’t until The Scarlet Deep in 2015 that I realized… “Oh nuts. I love Oleg and want to write a book for him.”

But here’s the deal: He’s not REALLY part of the Elemental Universe of Gio and B and Ben and Tenzin and Carwyn and the lot. So while his world definitely crossed over (especially in the last few Elemental Covenant books) his entire part of the Elemental universe is kind of its own thing. So I had to wait for the right time, and I’m thrilled to say that time has finally come!

The Firebird and the Wolf is currently planned as a trilogy, but there are lots of opportunities to write more in this world if this series takes off. It WILL be going into Kindle Unlimited on release, which is why I encourage anyone who is not a ‘Zon shopper to buy the ebook from my direct store before December 15! If you preorder before then, you actually get a little bit of a discount unless you live in California (cause then I have to charge you sales tax) and you get the book a day early on December 16th. So don’t delay!

I think that’s it for now! If all this is new to you, then I encourage you to check out the first chapter of Blood Mosaic here and see if Oleg sounds like someone you want to hang with. I really hope you like him as much as I do.

The world of the Shadowlands is built on human mythology (with my own twist, of course) and there are four very important mythological beings in the Shadowlands of Britain that play a huge role in FIRST LIGHT. Today I’m continuing my series on the four main magical creatures in FIRST LIGHT with…

The Wolves

They turned left at the foot of the stairs, and Carys got her first view of the great hall decked out for a formal dinner.

There were giant banners hung from the ceiling, blue and white on one side, red and green on the other. Thousands of blue-white tapers were glowing overhead, suspended by magic to illuminate the darkness while four hearths blazed with fire to warm the hall.

Blue lights danced overhead, and sparkling lights spun in the air like constant confetti.

There were tall, willowy fae men and women, their large eyes and long hair shining in the candlelight; pointed ears peeked from behind their shimmering hair, and rings decorated their ears, noses, and hands. They wore gold jewelry in abundance along with cloaks of glittering fabric adorned with jewels that winked as they moved.

“Beautiful.” She nearly lost her breath to see a group of them en masse.

“Dangerous,” Duncan murmured.

“Seductive by design,” Cadell added. “Some of it will be glamour. Much of it is real.”

The unicorns who greeted them as they walked through the crowd to find their table also towered over the human guests, their beauty as majestic but their faces warmer.

They were broad shouldered and strong, wearing flowing tunics with no apparent notice of the cold. Their long hair was a mix of soft waves, riotous curls, and every color in the rainbow.

Carys noticed that both the fae and the unicorns varied in their features more than the humans did, their features a mix of ethnicities from all around the world. Eyes of every shape and color, skin of every tone from deepest ebony to pale white ash.

The living tapestry moved in graceful dancing that dominated the center of the room while human and fae musicians played from a platform near the high table at the front of the room.

There were tall people with dark hair and weathered skin that Carys immediately identified as the wolves that Cadell and Duncan had spoken about. Stoic in expression, they stood along the borders of the room, speaking only with each other, their eyes and hair ranging from dark brown to pale grey.

“Wolves?” she murmured.

“Yes.” Cadell leaned down. “A wolf’s hair will always match their eyes. Grey and grey. Brown and brown. They mimic their animal form in this.”

“And dragon eyes are gold.”

Cadell nodded. “Yes, Nêrys.”

The wolves wore blue-and-red jackets and had the most military bearing of any of the magical creatures. Like the dragons, they appeared somewhat discomfited in human skin.

Today is the LAST DAY to preorder the ebook from my direct store if you’re not a Kindle buyer! You can buy direct and send it to whatever ereader you would like, including your phone, Nook, iPad, etc. But don’t delay because this is the last week before First Light goes into KindleUnlimited.

The hardcover of FIRST LIGHT will be available to order at all major retailers, but you can also order it direct from my Shopify store where it comes with exclusive stickers, bookmarks, and a signed book plate!

The world of the Shadowlands is built on human mythology (with my own twist, of course) and there are four very important mythological beings in the Shadowlands of Britain that play a huge role in FIRST LIGHT. Today I’m continuing my series on the four main magical creatures in FIRST LIGHT with…

The Dragons

The people milling around the courtyard started to murmur, and then a few shouts rose from the castle walls and the guards began to run.

People were frozen, looking up, but every animal that had been wandering through the courtyard from the horses to the chickens had scattered, fleeing to any awning or covered alcove they could find, huddling against the walls, utterly silent in the human melee.

Carys couldn’t understand what the guards were saying, nor did she care. Something pulled her attention back to the sky. Her eyes were drawn to a thin line in the distance, a dark spot on the horizon. Her blood knew what was coming before her mind fixed it.

More shouts from the guards, then a word that was unmistakable.

“Dràgon!”

The beat of distant wings pulled her like a string plunged into her heart. She walked to the center of the courtyard, her eyes lifted to the sky as the worried murmurs of the people around her turned to cries. A woman yelled and a child ran past her, screaming for his father.

The wind grew wilder, whipping around her body, but she couldn’t seem to move. Her gaze was fixed on the shape coming closer.

A deep voice whispered in her mind.

Nêrys.

Another hawk’s cry, but this one grew from a screech into a thundering roar as the massive creature spread its wings, shadowing the courtyard as it circled overhead.

Shouts from the walls and soldiers yelling as they poured into the keep.

The creature let loose a stream of fire that heated the courtyard even from the clouds.

“No,” she whispered. “You’re scaring them.”

“Hold!” The guard who had spoken to her earlier was shouting at the archers on the walls. “Hold until we receive orders!”

The voice whispered in her mind again, a deep growl, gentle as distant thunder. Nêrys ddraig.

Carys shook her head and whispered into the wind. “Not Nêrys. My name is Carys.”

With the force of a small hurricane, the dragon winged down in ever-smaller circles and landed in the middle of the courtyard, announcing its arrival with outstretched wings and a thunderous roar that shook the castle walls.

Carys stood motionless, looking up at the magnificent creature with pebbled green flesh that shone with an iridescent light. She could see the column of red fire glowing through the skin at the beast’s throat when he raised his head.

This week is the LAST WEEK to preorder the ebook from my direct store if you’re not a Kindle buyer! You can buy direct and send it to whatever ereader you would like, including your phone, Nook, iPad, etc. But don’t delay because this is the last week before First Light goes into KindleUnlimited.

The hardcover of FIRST LIGHT will be available to order at all major retailers, but you can also order it direct from my Shopify store where it comes with exclusive stickers, bookmarks, and a signed book plate!

 

The world of the Shadowlands is built on human mythology (with my own twist, of course) and there are four very important mythological beings in the Shadowlands of Britain that play a huge role in FIRST LIGHT. Today I’m continuing my series on the four main magical creatures in FIRST LIGHT with…

The Unicorns

Yasmin bore a gold sigil on her forehead in an intricate, swirling design where Carys imagined her horn would be in unicorn form.

Carys looked around the forest meadow that the little girl called home. “And what is this place?”

“You are a guest of the Blessing of Moray,” Yasmin said. “This is our current camp.”

The meadow was a wildflower-and-grass-covered island in a forest of pines and cedars. It was filled with bright tents that draped from tree to tree, and the light seemed brighter, as if a glow emanated from the glorious creatures walking among the flowers and trees, a mix of multicolored unicorns and people who were clearly only temporarily in human form.

There were small unicorns and children playing in the grass within the safety of the circle of tents, laughing and jumping in both human and animal form.

“I feel very safe here.” Carys hoped that her instincts were right, because if these creatures were evil, maybe she’d just give in to it.

Nothing this beautiful could be evil.

“You are safe here,” Yasmin said. “The kelpie cannot leave the boundaries of the loch, and Darius will not let anything enter the forest that could bring the children harm.”

“Darius?” Carys looked at the golden-brown unicorn who had attacked the kelpie. Azar was draped across his back, braiding his mane and whispering secrets into his ear as another unicorn tended to the wounds on his side.

“Yes, my mate is the one who rescued you.”

This week is the LAST WEEK to preorder the ebook from my direct store if you’re not a Kindle buyer! You can buy direct and send it to whatever ereader you would like, including your phone, Nook, iPad, etc. But don’t delay because this is the last week before First Light goes into KindleUnlimited.

The hardcover of FIRST LIGHT will be available to order at all major retailers, but you can also order it direct from my Shopify store where it comes with exclusive stickers, bookmarks, and a signed book plate!

The world of the Shadowlands is built on human mythology (with my own twist, of course) and there are four very important mythological beings in the Shadowlands of Britain that play a huge role in FIRST LIGHT. Today I’m starting a short series to introduce you to all of them with excerpts from the book, starting with…

The Fae.

They paused when a tall woman crossed their path. She came walking through the trees, stopped, and stared at them for a moment.

Carys couldn’t speak. The woman was thin as a willow branch and nearly as tall. Her golden-brown hair was straight and fell down her back, threaded with leaves and a few bright, berry-laden twigs. Her skin was golden brown, her ears were pointed, and gold rings pierced the tips.

Duncan paused and gave the silent woman a deep nod, but he didn’t speak.

She stared at Carys with obvious curiosity, and Carys stared back. The woman cocked her head and blinked thick-lashed brown eyes. Like Dru, she wore sigils on her face, but they were delicately drawn, fine lines curling like tendrils from the arches of her cheeks up to her temples and into her hairline.

The woman stared for a few silent moments, and then Carys blinked and she was gone.

After a long moment, Duncan kept walking, gripping Carys’s hand in his.

“What was she?” Carys couldn’t stop the question, but she kept her voice low. “Was that an elf?”

“Light fae. You’ll see them out and about more than the dark.”

Duncan helped her over a stone wall and across a rolling meadow with lights dancing just over waving heads of ripe wheat. The horizon was growing lighter but never truly bright. It was as if a thick fog covered the sun, making the sky glow but with no clear radiance.

As they walked, the land grew warmer and the colors brighter. It was awash in hues that reminded Carys of a watercolor painting. Purple and deep green trees, blue-green meadows, and soft-gold fields. She saw the first sheep when they climbed over the next stone wall, this one cut with steps from whatever shepherd trod the path they were walking.

Carys sighed with relief. “Sheep and stone walls. Things are getting more familiar.”

“Wouldn’t be any kind of Scotland without sheep,” he muttered. “Even an alternate one.”

Don’t forget, you can preorder FIRST LIGHT in ebook and hardcover from my direct store or preorder the ebook from Amazon!

I am happy to report that the Tin God Audiobook is now available in my direct store ! Narrated by the wonderful Sean William Doyle, who is now an IPPY award winning narrator! (Congratulations, Sean!) BUY IT HERE FAQWill this be at Audible/Apple Books/Amazon, etc.?YES! But it takes a while to get distributed to retailers, so I cannot give you a firm date on when it will be there.Will this be available to borrow at my library?If your library system uses Hoopla/Libby/etc, then likely yes! You might have to ask them to order it though.$16.99 seems high for an audiobook. Is it going to go on sale?Eventually, I’m sure it will, or I’ll do an audio bundle for the Elemental Covenant, but this book was about TEN AND A HALF HOURS finished. So production costs were very high. It’s still much cheaper than retailers, however, who are all going to be in the $24-27 range.Do you make more from Audible sales or direct sales?I make FAR MORE from direct sales, so if you can swing it, I would love for you to buy the book from me directly. While readers spend anywhere from $15/credit or $26/title at major retailers, authors average only about $4 per sale and often less than that. With direct sales, I make approximately 94% of the purchase price once processing fees are factored in, so it’s much easier to recoup production costs.Thank you to everyone who has been waiting patiently for the last Elemental Covenant book, and I hope you enjoy!!!

P.S. There are some signed paperbacks in there as well, along with an Elemental Covenant ebook bundle!

An all new contemporary romantic fantasy series from Elizabeth Hunter!In the Shadowlands, strangers wear familiar faces, myths are reality, and lies hide behind the most beautiful stories.

Carys Morgan traveled to Scotland in search of her missing boyfriend, only to find herself lost in an alternate dimension where magic infuses the land, myths are reality, and Carys wields power that no one can explain.

Guided and protected by a surly human blacksmith and a shapeshifting dragon, Carys discovers that she has an unexpected tie to the Shadowlands no one can explain, and her life has been shaped by a world running parallel to her own reality. 

Secrets lurk in every corner and Carys must decide if she wants to stay in a dimension where magic welcomes her, but strangers want her dead.

First Light is the introduction to an all new contemporary romantic fantasy series from eleven-time USA Today bestselling author Elizabeth Hunter.

I am thrilled to announce the beginning of an all new romantic fantasy series! First Light is the introduction to the Shadowlands series, an all new world of portal fantasy where an alternate magical dimension exists parallel to our own. It’s a world of new and old myths, scheming fae, temperamental dragons, elusive unicorns, and magical creatures of every kind. The first book is set in modern day Scotland, but trust me, this world-building is anything but familiar.

I don’t have a cover quite yet, but the book is already in editing and I’ll have a preorder soon. Until then, I hope you enjoy this exclusive preview of FIRST LIGHT.

FIRST LIGHT: Chapter One

Carys Morgan felt like she was going to shave off the left side of her car. “This was such a bad idea.”

“Going to Scotland to look for your missing boyfriend?” Kiersten asked over the speakerphone. “Or deciding to drive?”

“The driving part!” A dark hedgerow seemed to rise up in front of her. Carys jammed on the brakes and the car came to a stop.

A thin man emerged from the hedgerow, cocked his head at her, and pulled his cap down lower over his face. Then he loped across the field, stepping over a low stone wall that bordered a green pasture before he disappeared into a copse of leafless hawthorn trees dotted with bright red berries.

She blinked and the thin man was gone.

What was she doing? She slowly guided her car back into the lane. This was the worst idea in her twenty-nine years of life on this planet. This was such a bad idea.

And she couldn’t stop now.

“I don’t think we should be talking to her while she’s trying to navigate the wrong side of the road.” Her best friend Laura was also on the call. “Mostly I’m feeling guilty that neither of us went with you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” The road after the curve widened, and Carys’s heartbeat slowed to a non-fatal rate. “Both of you have lives and jobs and aren’t insane. I am a mentally unbalanced mythology professor whose boyfriend disappeared.”

“You’re not mentally unbalanced. And you’ve been a lot better in the last few months.”

Ever since she met Lachlan, which was why she had to figure out what the hell was going on. She’d taken a leave of absence from work when her depression dragged her down, but she was slowly crawling back from it. And then…

And then.

“I’m doing the right thing, right?”

“Yes.” Both of her friends spoke at once.

“We know Lachlan,” Laura said. “Something very weird is going on. He would not just have left you without a word. He didn’t call. Didn’t text.”

“He didn’t even take his car,” Kiersten added. “Something is obviously wrong.”

“Right.” Carys nodded. Right. She knew this. 

Even though the police in her small town on the Northern California coast seemed to think she was a jilted girlfriend with too much time on her hands, she knew that something horrible had happened to her boyfriend, and she wasn’t going to ignore it.

“Did you ever get Lachlan’s brother on the phone?” Kiersten asked. “Maybe if he saw a UK number he’d pick up.”

“She still has her American phone,” Laura said.

“Oh right.”

“His brother is avoiding my calls,” Carys said. “I got through one time, asked for Lachlan, and the man hung up on me. I called back and no answer.”

No matter how many times she told the Baywood police that something strange had happened to Lachlan, they said there was nothing to investigate. Some of her boyfriend’s clothes were missing and she and Lachlan had only been together for four months. That was proof enough for the police that her boyfriend had taken off and just hadn’t bothered breaking up with Carys before he left.

“He might be as worried as you are,” Kiersten said.

“I don’t think they’re very close,” Carys said. “But I mean… yeah. He’d have to be worried, right?”

She swerved and nearly hit a tractor that was coming up the road. “These roads are insanely narrow.”

Along with his car, Lachlan had left his passport, his guitar, his papers from the lawyer who was trying to get him a visa extension. He’d left an unfinished book on the bedside table and a massive hole in her life. 

Carys was going to find out what happened.

Even if it did look like she was the unhinged ex-girlfriend. 

“Murray Smithworks is on this road.” Carys looked for numbers when she passed houses on the country lane, but nothing seemed to be marked. “How are you supposed to find anything in this country?”

“Lachlan’s brother is a blacksmith? I didn’t know they had those anymore.”

“It’s some kind of family business that Lachlan used to work at. I have a feeling that that’s part of why he left home.”

I’m a disgustingly wealthy prince who’s run away from home for a bit to enjoy being unemployed. It was what he’d told her the first time he met. 

He had struck up a conversation about George MacDonald fairy tales at Redwood Books while she was shopping. He was charming and handsome, and she fell for all of it. There were hints of family money, but he didn’t mention it more than the joke about being a prince. He was smart and curious and kind.

He was almost too good to be true, except that he wasn’t. Lachlan had become Carys’s lifeline during her recovery from depression. He was bright and caring, and he loved her friends.

“Lachlan is a musician,” Laura said. “Not a blacksmith. They should respect that.”

“They should respect numbering houses,” Carys muttered.

“What do you see?” Kiersten asked.

Carys kept her speed low and looked around the grey and green Scottish landscape. “Trees with no leaves. Green hills. And cows.”

“Fuzzy cows?”

“Oh my God, Kiersten, enough with the fuzzy cows.”

“They’re so adorable though.”

“Wait.” Carys spotted a crooked red sign in the distance. “I see something that has Murray on it. I think.”

She pulled closer and saw that it wasn’t Murray Smithworks, but it was Murray Garden Center. “Maybe it belongs to a cousin or something. It’s a garden center, but the name is the same. I think I’m on the right track.”

“Okay, do you want to keep us on the call with you?”

“I think I’m okay now.”

“Remember,” Laura said. “You’re not insane. You know Lachlan and something happened to him. He would not have left without talking to you.”

The road curved again, a sinuous S that rose over a hill, then dropped down into a picturesque green valley blanketed by bare trees and green hills. On the slope of the hill in the distance, Carys could just make out something that looked like a stone circle. 

It was a real-life version of one of her mother’s fantasy watercolors, and Carys wished more than anything that she was visiting Scotland for the first time with Lachlan. They could take their time, explore his childhood haunts, and she could see in person some of the mythology she’d spent her life studying in books.

And Lachlan could do the driving.

A car horn dragged her attention from the stone circle in the distance and back to the road where a small delivery truck—a lorry—was pulling out into the lane and right into Carys’s way.

She swerved to the left and raised a hand in apology, but as soon as she passed the truck she realized where the truck was coming from.

Murray Smithworks.

The sign was in faded paint on the large stone barn behind the stone wall where the truck had come from.

Carys found a place to turn around, then slowly drove back to the business that the Murray family owned. She turned left into the yard surrounded by a grey stone wall, then directed her small rental car toward a low building that appeared to be an office.

She parked and took a deep breath before she sent a quick text to Laura and Kiersten.

Found it. Wish me luck.

Kiersten: Good luck.

Laura: Don’t let him brush you off.

Carys opened her car door and stepped out into the cool Scottish morning. The sky was overcast, but it didn’t look like it was going to rain, and the temperature was a chilly forty degrees, fairly close to what Baywood had been when she left home.

Experiencing the weather in Lachlan’s childhood home made Carys realize why he’d taken the weather on the North Coast in stride. It wasn’t as foggy as Baywood, but the climate was remarkably similar.

She walked to the old wooden door with peeling paint and a small plaque that read OFFICE. She knocked, then cracked the door open. “Hello?”

“Just a moment, dear!” A friendly voice called from the back. “Just a wee moment.”

A “wee moment” later, a round woman with curly hair and a rosy face walked from the hall at the back of the office. “These boys.” She sighed. “Can’t fill out a sales order to save their life.” She settled at a large desk with a computer and two different phones. “How can I help you, dear? If you’re looking for the garden store, it’s just down the lane and all the metalworks are there. We don’t sell any directly here at the smith works; this area is for restoration projects, construction and the like.”

Carys raised a hand. “Oh, I’m not here for garden… things. I’m looking for Duncan Murray.”

The woman cocked her head. “American? And you’re looking for Duncan, are you?”

“Yes, Duncan Murray. He’s the owner here, right?”

“He surely is, but he doesn’t receive guests at work most days.” She smiled and rose, then her smile fell. “You’re not a reporter or anything like that, are you?”

“No.” She found herself reluctant to volunteer information. “Just a friend of a friend.”

“Of course, dear.” The woman’s smile returned. “And your name?”

Oh shit. She supposed she had to give the woman something. “Carys.”

“Lovely name.” The woman beamed. “I’ll see if I can find the man.”

Moments after the woman walked back into what Carys assumed was the workshop, a burly man came storming down the hallway. He froze for a moment, staring at Carys, and his mouth dropped open.

So did hers. “Lachlan?”

He wasn’t Lachlan. She knew he wasn’t, but this man was her boyfriend’s mirror image. He was rougher around the edges, his hair was shorter, and he had a beard you couldn’t grow in less than a month. His hair was the same reddish brown as Lachlan’s and his eyes were just as green, but his shoulders were thick with muscle and his arms were massive.

Duncan Murray wasn’t only Lachlan’s brother—he was his identical twin.

“You.” The man’s voice was low and rough. “How—?”

“I’m Carys Morgan.” She boldly stuck out her hand. “I’m Lachlan’s girlfriend from California and I need you to tell me where the hell your brother is.”

First LightCopyright, 2023, Elizabeth HunterAll rights reserved.