BEYOND THE REALM OF DREAMS
IS A WORLD SHE NEVER IMAGINED
Masayi Sairu was raised to be dainty, delicate, demure . . . and
deadly. She is one of the emperor’s Golden Daughters, as much a
legend as she is a commodity. One day, Sairu will be contracted in
marriage to a patron, whom she will secretly guard for the rest of
her life.
But when she learns that a sacred Dream Walker of the temple seeks
the protection of a Golden Daughter, Sairu forgoes marriage in favor
of this role. Her skills are stretched to the limit, for assassins
hunt in the shadows, and phantoms haunt in dreams. With only a
mysterious Faerie cat and a handsome slave—possessed of his own
strange abilities—to help her, can Sairu shield her new mistress
from evils she can neither see nor touch?
For the Dragon is building an army of fire. And soon the heavens will
burn.
AUTHOR BIO:
Anne Elisabeth Stengl is the author of the
award-winning Tales of Goldstone Wood series, adventure fantasies
told in the classic Fairy Tale style. Her books include Christy
Award-winning
Heartless
and
Veiled Rose,
and Clive Staples Award-winning
Starflower.
She makes her home in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she lives with
her husband, Rohan, a passel of cats, and one long-suffering dog.
When she's not writing, she enjoys Shakespeare, opera, and tea, and
practices piano, painting, and pastry baking. She studied
illustration and English literature at Grace College and Campbell
University.
BOOK COVER:
The cover illustration was done by Julia Popova. Visit her website,
http://www.forestgirl.ru/,
to learn more about her and her fantastic work!
If you’d like to learn more about
Golden
Daughter,
visit
the book page for
interesting articles, illustrations, and more!
GIVEAWAY: I
am offering any two of the first six Goldstone Wood novels as a
giveaway prize! Winner’s choice of: Heartless,
Veiled Rose, Moonblood, Starflower, Dragonwitch, or Shadow Hand.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
SNEAK PEEK:
Excerpt from Chapter 3
GOLDEN DAUGHTER
Sairu made her way from Princess Safiya’s chambers out to the
walkways of the encircling gardens. The Masayi, abode of the Golden
Daughters, was an intricate complex of buildings linked by
blossom-shrouded walkways, calm with fountains and clear,
lotus-filled pools where herons strutted and spotted fish swam.
Here she had lived all the life she could remember.
The Masayi was but a small part of Manusbau Palace, which comprised
the whole of Sairu’s existence. She had never stepped beyond the
palace walls. To do so would be to step into a world of corruption,
corruption to which a Golden Daughter would not be impervious until
she was safely chartered to a master and her life’s work was
affixed in her heart and mind. Meanwhile, she must live securely
embalmed in this tomb, waiting for life to begin.
Sairu’s mouth curved gently at the corners, and she took small
steps as she had been trained—slow, dainty steps that disguised the
swiftness with which she could move at need. Even in private she must
maintain the illusion, even here within the Masayi.
A cat sat on the doorstep of her own building, grooming itself in the
sunlight. She stepped around it and proceeded into the red-hung halls
of the Daughter’s quarters and on to her private chambers. There
she must gather what few things she would take with her—fewer
things even than Jen-ling would take on her journey to Aja. For
Jen-ling would be the wife of a prince, and she must give every
impression of a bride on her wedding journey.
I wonder who my master will be? Sairu thought as she slid back
the rattan door to her chamber and entered the quiet simplicity
within. She removed her elaborate costume and exchanged it for a robe
of simple red without embellishments. She washed the serving girl
cosmetics from her face and painted on the daily mask she and her
sisters wore—white with black spots beneath each eye and a red
stripe down her chin. It was elegant and simple, and to the common
eye it made her indistinguishable from her sisters.
The curtain moved behind her. She did not startle but turned quietly
to see the same cat slipping into her room. Cats abounded throughout
Manusbau Palace, kept on purpose near the storehouses to manage the
vermin. But they did not often enter private chambers.
Sairu, kneeling near her window with her paint pots around her,
watched the cat as it moved silkily across the room, stepped onto her
sleeping cushions, and began kneading the soft fabric, purring all
the while. Its claws pulled at the delicate threads. But it was a
cat. As far as it was concerned, it had every right to enjoy or
destroy what it willed.
At last it seemed to notice Sairu watching it. It turned sleepy eyes
to her and blinked.
Sairu smiled. In a voice as sweet as honey, she asked, “Who are
you?”
The cat twitched its tail softly and went on purring.
The next moment, Sairu was across the room, her hand latched onto the
cat’s scruff. She pushed it down into the cushions and held it
there as it yowled and snarled, trying to catch at her with its
claws.
“Who are you?” she demanded, her voice fierce this time. “What
are you? Are you an evil spirit sent to haunt me?”
“No, dragons eat it! I mean, rrrraww! Mreeeow! Yeeeowrl!”
The cat twisted and managed to lash out at her with its back feet,
its claws catching in the fabric of her sleeve. One claw scratched
her wrist, startling her just enough that she loosened her hold. The
cat took advantage of the opportunity and, hissing like a fire demon,
leapt free. It sprang across the room, knocking over several of her
paint pots, and spun about, back-arched and snarling. Every hair
stood on end, and its ears lay flat to its skull.
Sairu drew a dagger from her sleeve and crouched, prepared for
anything. The smile lingered on her mouth, but her eyes flashed. “Who
sent you?” she demanded. “Why have you come to me now? You know
of my assignment, don’t you.”
“Meeeeowrl,” the cat said stubbornly and showed its fangs
in another hiss.
“I see it in your face,” Sairu said, moving carefully to shift
her weight and prepare to spring. “You are no animal. Who is your
master, devil?”
The cat dodged her spring easily enough, which surprised her. Sairu
was quick and rarely missed a target. Her knife sank into the floor
and stuck there, but she released it and whipped another from the
opposite sleeve even as she whirled about.
Any self-respecting cat would have made for the window or the door.
This one sprang back onto the cushions and crouched there, tail
lashing. Its eyes were all too sentient, but it said only “Meeeeow,”
as though trying to convince itself.
Sairu chewed the inside of her cheek. Then, in a voice as smooth as
butter, she said, “We have ways of dealing with devils in this
country. Do you know what they are, demon-cat?”
The cat’s ears came up. “Prreeowl?” it said.
“Allow me to enlighten you.”
And Sairu put her free hand to her mouth and uttered a long, piercing
whistle. The household erupted with the voices of a dozen and more
lion dogs.
The little beasts, slipping and sliding and crashing into walls,
their claws clicking and clattering on the tiles, careened down the
corridor and poured into Sairu’s room. Fluffy tails wagging,
pushed-in noses twitching, they roared like the lions they believed
themselves to be and fell upon the cat with rapacious joy.
The cat uttered one long wail and the next moment vanished out the
window. Sairu, dogs milling at her feet, leapt up and hurried to look
out after it, expecting to see a tawny tail slipping from sight. But
she saw nothing.
The devil was gone. For the moment at least.
Sairu sank down on her cushions, and her lap was soon filled with
wriggling, snuffling hunters eager for praise. She petted them
absently, but her mind was awhirl. She had heard of devils taking the
form of animals and speaking with the tongues of men. But she had
never before seen it. She couldn’t honestly say she’d even
believed it.
“What danger is my new master in?” she wondered. “From what
must I protect him?”
