Tara Maya's Tales

  Shadow, his unhorse, galloped across the field of blood and snow, into the forest, where rain battled the fire that wanted to devour the trees. Any colder and the rain would have turned to sleet. The girl trembled in Umbral’s arms. She felt good there, soft and tiny and clinging to him like a child. Her hair, brightly dyed red, held the fragrance of henna and dried flowers. She clutched at his chest as if she trusted him to protect her; though, more likely, she was just afraid that if she didn’t hang on, he would let her drop and break her neck. He sheltered her from the rain as best he could. As if a few drops of water were the main danger to her. Deep in the forest, he reached the Deathsworn menhir, large and looming, black and crowned with bones. Here he tapped his horse with his obsidian-beaded hoop, and the shadow beast halted. The forest fire had burnt out here, but it had done its damage. The skeletons of trees around the megalith stuck up from ash, raw black claws. At the...

  On sale today for $0.99! He had silver-black wings, which were not feathers, she realized on closer inspection, but feathery extensions of smokey light. And he glowed . Every part of him was bathed in glorious radiance. His hair looked like spun obsidian, his skin gleamed like polished teak, and his eyes were dark, yet warm and intelligent. There were crinkles around them that suggested wisdom although he was ageless, and she guessed he was much older than his youthful physique suggested. He looked exactly like a classic angel, although far, far too sexy. Sister McKinney in her third-grade Catholic school would have slapped Trudie’s hand with a ruler for suggesting an angel could look that sinfully delicious.  “Thank you for allowing me to come to this interview,” he said to her gravely. “I admit, I was surprised when you agreed to consider a Seraph as a tutor for your children, Queen Sabriel.” Even his voice was sexy. She was definitely going to hell just based on the dream...

  Excerpt from The Seastead Girl : My heart pounded in my chest as the three of us flapped our flippers toward the juvenile whale. Even though the juvenile was small for a humpback, it was still so huge that I felt like Thumbelina compared to the whale. I was surprised to see a number of fish swirling around the whale, as if they were paparazzi pursuing a celebrity. Then I recognized them as sucker fish, whale suckers. We had studied them earlier this week, in preparation for our whale watch. They were also called remora. They were not exactly parasites, but they were annoyances to whales. This baby was unable to defend itself against the little hitchhikers, and so dozens of them had started to follow it. About half of them were attached by their suckers, and the other half were swimming nearby. Although I had my oxygen tube hooked up I almost forgot to breathe. Kaplan swim within a foot of the whale’s head, meeting its gaze with his own. From where I was, I could see the intellige...

  Get the book on your favorite site. An Arcana Glen  Sweet Paranormal Romance ( click here to buy): Dahlia was hired to hunt down a Lion Shifter who stole a deadly weapon. Aaresh was a mild-mannered school teacher by day. By night, he turned into a monster he couldn’t control… But when Dahlia hunts him down and he traps her in his lair, who is the hunter and who is the prey? The loneliest portion of her run home was through a thick pine forest. When Dahlia entered the tree cover, she heard another runner’s footsteps pacing behind her to match her foot falls. Someone was following her. He was using stealth, trying to hide his presence. Almost certainly he was up to nothing good. It was going to be one of those nights when some cocky, predacious Shifter attacked Dahlia to rob her, rape her, kidnap her or kill her. Awesome. She looked forward to taking out another loser who thought to prey on the weak.  Adrenaline zinged through her body, followed by the zip-zap tingl...

  She's a witch with weak powers but a big heart. She accidentally binds an Elf Prince, turned killer mercenary, to her side ...  Read the book . The Tarot Reader's New Year Promise (Except) The sitting room felt much smaller with the tall mercenary sitting there, sipping tea. He was excruciatingly polite and when he saw the Tarot cards, he bowed to her grandmother. “I had heard that you have the Sight.” “My granddaughter was about to do a reading for the new year,” said Grandma Bella. Behind the Elf mercenary’s back, Tia waved her hands to nix that. She was embarrassed enough trying to do a reading in front of Grandma Bella. Tia  definitely  wasn’t up to a public reading in front of a genuine magical warrior, especially one so gorgeous that she kept forgetting to breathe. “You haven’t told us your name,” Tia said. “You’ve heard of my grandmother, Bella, and my name is Tia. You are?” “Delson,” he said. Grandma Bella set up straight in her chair and looked at him shar...

  “What’s wrong, sweetie?” Bethany asked, moving to sit next to Kyrah on the tiny little bench in the tiny, little dressing room. Kyrah automatically scooted out of the way so that Bethany could not touch her. “Right. No touching. No hugs.” Bethany recited Kyrah’s rules. “Not even when you’re crying?” Kyrah shook her head, staring at her lap. She was struggling not to cry in front of her friend. “Just tell me what’s wrong,” urged Bethany. “Also, I need to check your body for gaping wounds.” Kyrah inadvertently let out a snort of laughter. “Bethany please. I can’t deal with anything tonight...not even for you.” “Well, if you don’t tell me what’s going on immediately, I’m going to sit here telling dirty jokes until you either laugh or we both get fired.” Kyrah buried her face in her hands and no words of any sort emerged. Only another muffled grunt of a woman desperately trying not to cry. The worst crying of all was the crying that you tried not to do... it just sounded awful. “Okay...

Distance muffled the sound, so Dindi tilted her head to listen. Definitely a woman’s scream, coming from far away and further up, in the wild hills above Lost Swan Clan’s territory. A faery clan, extinct now, had once lived near Swan Rock. Their vengeful hexes haunted many caves and cliffs. More recently, Dindi’s grandmother, Mad Maba, had danced herself to death in those same hills.    A cursed region indeed – which made it the perfect place for Dindi to dance with the fae in secret. She was the only one imprudent enough to go there. At least, she had been up until now. The woman screamed again, in pain now. Dindi ran uphill toward the sound.  I hope I can reach her in time to help, whoever she is. Cultivated fields gave way to wild slopes of aspen and pine. Here one found no footpaths, only deer trails. In places, she had to avoid tangles of thorny brush, precipitous ditches, or bald patches of scree. She reached Swan Rock, an odd boulder as big as a house. The rock seemed to stretch...

Six Moons Earlier, Seven times Seven Days Walk to the East It was not the kind of day one expected to meet death. The fae scrambled to greet Dindi as she skipped through the terraced fields of ripening corn. The rolling green hills stretched out in every direction under a perfect blue sky marked only with the V of migrating swans. The ripening corn smelled sweet and fresh. Innumerable clouds of tiny willawisps hazed the fields like sparkling mists. Maize sprites clambered nimbly to the tips of the straight-backed stalks to wave at Dindi when she brushed by them. Pixies of every color fluttered on luminous wings around her head, making her dizzy. “Come dance with us! Come dance with us!” they urged in a babble of flute voices. “Not today!” She waved them away. I could be taken for Initiation rites any day now , Dindi thought. And all omens indicate I’ll fail miserably. Like my mother. And my grandmother. And every single person in my whole clan since the days of the Lost Swan Cl...