Exclusive Excerpt from Marie Treanor's The Prisoner of Silverwood Castle!
The window was filthy with decades of dust. On impulse, I unwrapped my handkerchief from around the ointment jar and wet it with my tongue. Then I rubbed a patch of glass just in front of my eye until I could make out a thickly overgrown garden. To my left, surely, was the high wall I’d walked up to this morning, and to the right, in the distance, another, newer wall with an even taller hedge behind it, completely enclosing this part of the castle grounds. So far as I could tell. There might, I supposed, have been a door in either of the high walls, though it certainly wasn’t obvious from here.
So, if I was in the middle of what I’d seen as the castle’s blank face, then the tower was surely somewhere to my right…
Except I’d taken no right turns last night after leaving my bedroom. All the same, I went back the way I’d come with a bit more urgent anticipation, feeling my way along the right-hand wall until I found a wide curve in the stone and a gap. With my eyes now more used to the extreme gloom, I realized there was some grey daylight somewhere down this passage. Although it seemed to double back at an acute angle in the kind of direction I’d just come from, I thought that last night, coming from the opposite direction, this right-hand passage might not have seemed like a turning at all, more of a veer that I hadn’t really noticed in my sleepy exploration.
Excited now, I hurried on as quickly as I dared…until I found myself in the big, empty hall with the row of glazed windows. My heart thudded, because it was so familiar, because last night had been real. Slowly, I turned my body and my gaze towards the spiral stone staircase, and listened.
Was he up there? Did he haunt this part of the house for some particular reason? I needed more information… I crept forward towards the stairs, hearing only the rapid beat of my own heart. As I climbed, my spine tingled. I jerked my head around, grasping the bodice of my gown in instinctive and useless self-protection. For an instant, I thought I saw something, a pale shadow flitting just out of my vision. When I turned completely around, it had vanished.
I shook my head. My overactive imagination was frightening me more than what was actually here—unswept stairs covered in dust under my feet, and cobwebs over my head. On the first landing, I hesitated by the door, which was still closed. I listened very carefully before I tried to push it open. It was still locked, so I climbed higher, to the room with the table. Again, the door stood open, though the room itself was empty.
I shivered as a sudden wave of dread swept over me. I didn’t know if I was afraid of finding the prisoner or not finding him, whatever his form.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped inside—and a wild, moaning cry rent the air. A mixture of howling wind and tortured roar, it sounded like terrible pain, and yet like nothing that could have possibly come from a human. The blood froze in my veins. I felt as if my hair stood on end, driven back from my face by the force of the moan. Worse, something thudded above me, as if it was coming through the ceiling.
The Prisoner of Silverwood Castle (Darke of Night Book 2) by Marie Treanor
Date of Publication: August 16, 2016
Blurb
Dead men don't tell tales. They wail them from the top of the tallest tower.
Darke of Night, Book 2
Lady Guinevere (Guin) Harvey would much rather be writing gothic tales of intrigue and adventure than dancing attendance on her sister, the newly married Duchess of Silberwald. Until they arrive at Silberwald Castle, a place of enchanting perfection—and gothic shadows.
Ghostly groans and clanking chains lead Guin through ancient, misshapen passages to one of the castle's many mysteries: a cell where the odd but charming Kasimir is kept chained like an animal. He could be a figment of her vivid dreams, the ghost of a dead, mad prince, or just a political prisoner no one wants to talk about.
Desperate to discover what beast is howling such soul-chilling cries, Guin summons the medium Barbara Darke. But by the time Barbara arrives, Guin can no longer distinguish dream from reality, friend from enemy. Even with all Barbara's unique talents, they have to face new dangers before they finally discover the terrifying truth of Silberwald Castle.
Warning: Gives new meaning to falling madly in love…
Darke of Night, Book 2
Ghostly groans and clanking chains lead Guin through ancient, misshapen passages to one of the castle's many mysteries: a cell where the odd but charming Kasimir is kept chained like an animal. He could be a figment of her vivid dreams, the ghost of a dead, mad prince, or just a political prisoner no one wants to talk about.
Desperate to discover what beast is howling such soul-chilling cries, Guin summons the medium Barbara Darke. But by the time Barbara arrives, Guin can no longer distinguish dream from reality, friend from enemy. Even with all Barbara's unique talents, they have to face new dangers before they finally discover the terrifying truth of Silberwald Castle.
Warning: Gives new meaning to falling madly in love…
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About Marie Treanor
Marie Treanor lives in Scotland with her eccentric husband, three much-too-smart children and a small puppy who rules them all. Having grown bored with city life, she resides these days in a picturesque village by the sea where she is lucky enough to enjoy herself avoiding housework and writing sensual stories of paranormal romance and urban fantasy – with a bit of science fiction and time travel thrown in.
Marie is the award winning author of over forty sexy paranormal romances – Indie, New York and E-published. Since childhood, she has always written stories, at first secretly and for her own amusement, later with more serious intention to earn a living by writing. After working as a researcher and a librarian, she was lucky enough to have her first romances, GHOST UNLAID and QUEEN'S GAMBIT, immediately accepted by an e-publisher in 2004. Since then, she has published continuously, most notably with NAL, Samhain, Changeling Press, Ellora's Cave and The Wild Rose Press. She now writes full time.
In 2010, she made her New York publishing debut with BLOOD ON SILK, first of the award winning Awakened by Blood vampire romance trilogy. Reviewers have described her undead anti-hero Saloman as the best vampire in the genre. Most recently, she has been trying her hand at self-publishing, with three new paranormal romance series, Serafina's, The Gifted, and Blood Hunters (a sequel series to Awakened by Blood).
When not writing, Marie can generally be found among the chaos of her family, or walking the dog on the beach in all weathers. She loves to travel and meet new people. - See more at: http://www.marietreanor.com/about-the-author-marie-treanor/#sthash.ahFX5oNK.dpuf
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