Kestrel, the King's Privateer, is preparing to wait out the annual storm season when she receives an unexpected royal order to capture and deliver a rare creature for the king’s menagerie. Before she can weigh anchor, news reaches Kestrel of a long-ago friend in desperate need of help—in the opposite direction of her assigned voyage. In addition, her ship may be haunted by something big, loud, and terrifying.
Before Kestrel can plot a course, she crosses paths with an enigmatic dancer who offers an enticing bargain: sail her home to the Continent, an ocean away, and she'll reveal the mysteries of magic Kestrel has longed all her life to know.
The temptation of answers endangers her crew and might ruin her privateer status. Worse, taking on this passenger could thrust her into the clutches of the ever-watchful Danisoban mages who lie in wait for her to make the perfect mistake.
Every decision is fraught with danger. Each wrong turn may mean her death or the death of her crew. And Captain Kestrel can walk away from none of them.
Kestrel, the pirate who can whistle up the wind, returns in book two of the Mad Kestrel Series. Captain Kes will defy the king, gamble with her friends' lives, and run the risk of capture by evil mages to get her hands on the magical knowledge so long denied to her.
ASIN: B09YC8JSP5
Publisher: Lore Seekers Press (June 24, 2022)
Publication date: June 24, 2022
Language: English
Print length: 319 pages
Check it out on Amazon: http://mybook.to/KestrelsDance
Check out Book One: http://mybook.to/MadKestrel
Excerpt Eleven
She felt McAvery shift position, move closer to her. The heat from his body radiated across the distance between them. Two days ago, she was miserable with thinking he loved someone else. Knowing that he loved her was the only thing she had wanted, then. Now she wanted him to go away, to leave her in the darkness.
“What makes you sure? The king’s the final arbiter, after all.”
“It isn’t up to him, is it? My crime is against the Danisobans. This is the kind of flop-headed thing Lig’s been dreaming I’d do.” She pushed the plate away, turning on her side to rest against the pillows. “I couldn’t have walked into his hands better if I’d done it on purpose. I’ve been the death of a Danisoban and I’m blind because of it.” Sitting back up, she threw her legs over the side of the bed. She heard the plate clatter off the bed. Planting her feet flat on the deck, she rose. The wood was cold under her feet, and they felt strange, as if they’d forgotten how to carry her weight. She took two steps and stumbled into the table, catching herself with a grunt. McAvery’s hands were on her in an instant, steadying, but she pushed them away. “Don’t bother. I might as well fall over the rail, as much good as I am now.” She stood again. Her bare feet crushed torn bread as she walked unsteadily around her cabin, hands stretched out before her to feel the way. She stubbed her small toe on something in the way. It throbbed with the shock — was she bleeding? She didn’t know. Cursing, she dropped to the floor and rubbed her toe. “I’m no leader any longer, not like this. I can’t even find my way across the room.”
“You’d better find a way to lead,” he said. “Those men believe in you.”
“Shadd can run things. Grace’s deeps, he’s been here longer than me. They all look to him. He’s strong enough to take the helm, and he can bloody see.” She let her face fall into her hands, elbows digging into her knees. “Maybe if you hang me, sail into port with my body dangling from the bowsprit, they’ll let you all live.”
“If you’ve made up your mind,” he said. She heard the bed creak, and suddenly he was beside her, pulling her up from the floor. “Death it is.”
Love the Mad Kestrel series and want to stay up to date on Misty Massey's next release? Follow Misty on Amazon here: author.to/MistyMassey or check out her website: https://www.mistymassey.com/
Before Kestrel can plot a course, she crosses paths with an enigmatic dancer who offers an enticing bargain: sail her home to the Continent, an ocean away, and she'll reveal the mysteries of magic Kestrel has longed all her life to know.
The temptation of answers endangers her crew and might ruin her privateer status. Worse, taking on this passenger could thrust her into the clutches of the ever-watchful Danisoban mages who lie in wait for her to make the perfect mistake.
Every decision is fraught with danger. Each wrong turn may mean her death or the death of her crew. And Captain Kestrel can walk away from none of them.
Kestrel, the pirate who can whistle up the wind, returns in book two of the Mad Kestrel Series. Captain Kes will defy the king, gamble with her friends' lives, and run the risk of capture by evil mages to get her hands on the magical knowledge so long denied to her.
ASIN: B09YC8JSP5
Publisher: Lore Seekers Press (June 24, 2022)
Publication date: June 24, 2022
Language: English
Print length: 319 pages
Check it out on Amazon: http://mybook.to/KestrelsDance
Check out Book One: http://mybook.to/MadKestrel
Excerpt Eleven
She felt McAvery shift position, move closer to her. The heat from his body radiated across the distance between them. Two days ago, she was miserable with thinking he loved someone else. Knowing that he loved her was the only thing she had wanted, then. Now she wanted him to go away, to leave her in the darkness.
“What makes you sure? The king’s the final arbiter, after all.”
“It isn’t up to him, is it? My crime is against the Danisobans. This is the kind of flop-headed thing Lig’s been dreaming I’d do.” She pushed the plate away, turning on her side to rest against the pillows. “I couldn’t have walked into his hands better if I’d done it on purpose. I’ve been the death of a Danisoban and I’m blind because of it.” Sitting back up, she threw her legs over the side of the bed. She heard the plate clatter off the bed. Planting her feet flat on the deck, she rose. The wood was cold under her feet, and they felt strange, as if they’d forgotten how to carry her weight. She took two steps and stumbled into the table, catching herself with a grunt. McAvery’s hands were on her in an instant, steadying, but she pushed them away. “Don’t bother. I might as well fall over the rail, as much good as I am now.” She stood again. Her bare feet crushed torn bread as she walked unsteadily around her cabin, hands stretched out before her to feel the way. She stubbed her small toe on something in the way. It throbbed with the shock — was she bleeding? She didn’t know. Cursing, she dropped to the floor and rubbed her toe. “I’m no leader any longer, not like this. I can’t even find my way across the room.”
“You’d better find a way to lead,” he said. “Those men believe in you.”
“Shadd can run things. Grace’s deeps, he’s been here longer than me. They all look to him. He’s strong enough to take the helm, and he can bloody see.” She let her face fall into her hands, elbows digging into her knees. “Maybe if you hang me, sail into port with my body dangling from the bowsprit, they’ll let you all live.”
“If you’ve made up your mind,” he said. She heard the bed creak, and suddenly he was beside her, pulling her up from the floor. “Death it is.”
Love the Mad Kestrel series and want to stay up to date on Misty Massey's next release? Follow Misty on Amazon here: author.to/MistyMassey or check out her website: https://www.mistymassey.com/
Review from Booklist for The Mad Kestrel Series:
Massey debuts with a colorful romp through strange lands and stranger seas. In a world in which magic is a monopoly of the Danisobans, and all children showing signs of power are taken from their parents and raised by that order, young Kestrel had hidden her talent and eventually escaped to sea, where magic is cancelled by water. Now risen to the post of quartermaster of a pirate ship, she loves her life. But to keep it, she must never let anyone know that she can magically control the wind. When her captain is entrapped and arrested, the young quartermaster must gather and command the crew for a rescue. That takes all the strength and wit Kestrel can command—and guarded use of her magic. This Errol Flynn–ish swashbuckler features loads of action and larger-than-life characters, plausibly grounded in the realities of life at sea. A real page-turner, and a successor is in the works.
Massey debuts with a colorful romp through strange lands and stranger seas. In a world in which magic is a monopoly of the Danisobans, and all children showing signs of power are taken from their parents and raised by that order, young Kestrel had hidden her talent and eventually escaped to sea, where magic is cancelled by water. Now risen to the post of quartermaster of a pirate ship, she loves her life. But to keep it, she must never let anyone know that she can magically control the wind. When her captain is entrapped and arrested, the young quartermaster must gather and command the crew for a rescue. That takes all the strength and wit Kestrel can command—and guarded use of her magic. This Errol Flynn–ish swashbuckler features loads of action and larger-than-life characters, plausibly grounded in the realities of life at sea. A real page-turner, and a successor is in the works.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Misty Massey is the author of Mad Kestrel, a rollicking adventure of magic on the high seas, Kestrel’s Voyages, a collection of short stories featuring those rambunctious pirates, and the upcoming Kestrel’s Dance. She is a co-editor of The Weird Wild West and Lawless Lands: Tales of the Weird Frontier, and was a founding member of Magical Words. Her short fiction has appeared in many anthologies and she’s working on a series of Shadow Council novellas for Falstaff Press featuring the famous gunslinger Doc Holliday. When she’s not writing, Misty studies and performs Middle Eastern dance and will, on occasion, surprise everyone with a batch of home-baked snickerdoodles. She’s a sucker for good sushi, African coffee, SC Gamecock football, and the darkest rum she can find. You can keep up with what Misty’s doing at mistymassey.com, Facebook and Twitter.
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