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Pocket
Full of Tinder
Noon
Onyx
Book
4
Jill
Archer
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Black Willow
Word Count: ~ 85,000
Cover Artist: Rebecca
Frank
Author Newsletter Sign Up:
Book Description:
Noon
Onyx is back! In this long-awaited fourth installment, Jill Archer returns
readers to the dangerous world of Halja, where demons, angels, and humans
coexist in an uneasy state of détente.
Maegester-in-Training Noon Onyx
feels like she’s done it all – mastered fiery magic, become an adept fighter,
learned the law, killed countless demons, and survived having her heart broken
by both love and an arrow, but now she’ll face her greatest challenge yet…
Far to the north lies an outpost
famous for its unrest – Rockthorn Gorge. The town’s patron has specifically
requested Noon’s help. Her assignment? Help the neophyte demon lord build his
fiefdom and keep what’s his. The problem? Lord Aristos – Noon’s new employer –
is her erstwhile lover, Ari Carmine, the aforementioned heartbreaker. And the
number one thing he wants is her.
When Rockthorn Gorge’s viaduct is
destroyed by Displodo, an enigmatic bomber, killing a dozen settlers and
wounding scores more, Noon sets off early to aid in the search and rescue. Ari
is listed among the missing and the suspects are legion. But Noon’s search is
just the beginning. Her journey forces Noon to confront not only those she
loves, but also enemies hell-bent on destroying them.
Excerpt
POCKET FULL OF
TINDER
Noon Onyx #4
The claw-and-ball had been chewed clean
off. It lay on a patch of sunny parquet floor, just to the right of an antique,
aubergine wool rug now covered with the splintered remnants of an eleventh
century pedestal table and one very large, ghastly looking, somewhat repentant
barghest.
Nova’s head rested on her front paws as
her gaze shifted warily from me to Miss Bister, Megiddo’s dormater, or house mother.
“Megiddo’s lobby is not a kennel, Miss
Onyx. That”—she motioned dismissively toward Nova—“beast can no longer be housed here.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but Miss
Bister continued speaking, her tone rising only infinitesimally, her back as
stiff as Luck’s lance must have been, and her expression just as hard. She
pointed toward the previously priceless, three-footed piece of furniture that
was now a worthless, two-footed pile of kindling.
“No amount of money – or magic – can fix
that, Nouiomo. It’s beyond repair. I
warned you. I made an exception to my ‘no pets’ rule because you never cause
trouble. You never forget your key; you promptly pick up your deliveries; you
change your own light bulbs; you double bag your trash. You leave nothing
behind in the bathroom; you don’t monopolize the washing machines; you are
exceedingly polite to the lift operator; you don’t sing in the shower.”
I suppressed a sigh. After a year and a
half of painstaking efforts, harrowing experiences, and endless hours of
education, my worth had just been measured by the fact that I could change a
light bulb. I’d mastered fiery magic, become an adept fighter, learned the law,
killed countless demons (one regrettably, the others much less so), freed
myriad immortals from an accursed, tortured bondage, and survived having my
heart nearly destroyed by both love and an arrow, yet none of that meant bupkis
next to the fact that I double bagged my trash. And yet…
I couldn’t really argue with Miss Bister
either. Everything she’d said was true. And who was I to tell her what she
should deem important? I respected that she valued domestic order and antiques.
I did too, if not nearly as much as I valued the thing that now threatened our
continued access to such. I glared at Nova, who swept one paw over her eyes as
if she could hide from me and the evidence of what she’d done.
Barghests are giant hellhounds. They’re
bigger than bears, fiercer than rabid raccoons, and uglier than naked mole
rats. Their teeth are the size of railroad spikes, their claws as sharp as a
sickle, their breath as foul as sewage gas. But they are also affectionate,
brave, and loyal. What barghests lack in magic, they make up for in devotion.
And even though I was plenty mad at Nova for chewing up Miss Bister’s table, I
also knew it wasn’t Nova’s fault.
It was mine – for thinking the lobby of
a demon law school dormitory would be a good place to keep her.
“Miss Bister, please,” I said. “I’m
truly sorry. I know I can’t replace that exact table. But if you would just
allow me to—”
“No,” Miss Bister said simply. “Either
the beast goes… Or you do.”
I stared at the small, frail, magicless
woman in front of me, trying desperately to think of some way to fix this
problem. Wasn’t there something I could do, or say, or offer her that would
make amends and convince her not to kick us out?
But all I could think of was how useless
some of the things our society valued most were. As Miss Bister had pointed
out, neither magic nor money would help. If I was going to repair the table,
I’d need to find another way. Which would take time. And that meant I’d need to
find somewhere else for us to sleep tonight. Because if the beast was going… I
was too.
“Yes, Miss Bister,” I said. “I
understand.”
She narrowed her eyes, slightly
suspicious of my now gracious defeat since I’d just spent the last half-hour
trying to persuade her to accept various forms of reparation. But then she
nodded, handed me a couple of paper bin bags, and left.
I slid one bag inside the other and
stooped down to pick up the slobbery remains of Nova’s mangled chew toy. When I
finished, she came over to me and nudged my arm with her head. She let out a
woofy whine.
Was she sorry? She darn well better be!
I gave her a scratch behind the ears.
“Now that you’ve sharpened your teeth on
my former dormater’s furniture, are
you ready to eat some real food for breakfast?”
About
the Author:
Jill Archer writes dark,
genre-bending fantasy from rural Maryland. Her novels include Dark Light of
Day, Fiery Edge of Steel, White Heart of Justice, and Pocket Full of Tinder.
She loves cats, coffee, books, movies, day tripping, and outdoor adventuring.
Website:
http://www.jillarcher.com/
Newsletter:
http://eepurl.com/bAzF7n
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/archer_jill
Discussion
Questions: http://jillarcherauthor.wordpress.com/book-clubs/
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