Release Blitz, Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway:
Winter Of The Owl by Iris Foxglove
Seasons Of The Likoi, Book 1
Sava has the best house in all of Lukos. He built it himself, dreaming of the day when he and Milan, the man he loved, could live there and brave the harsh winters of Lukos together—only to be devastated when Milan was found dead in the spring. Fraught with grief, Sava resigns himself to spending his winters alone.
Then a stranger appears on his doorstep, and everything changes.
Victor is a scholar from Gerakia, a land known for its long summers and vibrant history, and he has never been more unprepared in his life. Abandoned on the inhospitable island of Lukos after a disastrous relationship, Victor has to adapt quickly to survive. It helps, of course, that he’s taken in by Sava, who has the biggest heart of any man Victor has ever known. Victor and Sava start to make a home together, growing close as snow falls outside, but the true danger of a Lukos winter is closer than they suspect…
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“You know, you’re not the first person to call me an owl,” Victor said, as he carefully followed Sava down the slope. “Not because of the glasses. There was a story about an owl Aunt Grace used to tell me, when I kept sleeping on the roof or making tents by the lake. It’s an old Gerakian … tall tale? Not tall as in high, but … it could be true if it weren’t impossible?”
“I don’t know if we have those stories,” Sava said. He was probably being diplomatic. He grabbed Victor before he could jam his boot into a rock and end his brief tenure as a Lukoi, and Victor grinned up at him.
“Gerakia has hundreds. This one, it was about a girl whose brothers were turned into birds and eaten.” Sava made a face, and Victor shrugged. “She has to be tragic. It’s required. She’d been promised—in marriage—to the giant who ate her brothers, but when she found out what he’d done, she poisoned him and wove a coat of feathers that turned her into an owl.”
Sava made a soft, concerned sound. “Where did she find the feathers?”
“Don’t ask.” Victor gave up trying “to be self-sufficient and steadied himself on Sava’s arm as they navigated the rocky ground before a thicket of trees. “She flew to the next village, looking for a home. She found someone who took her in as a pet, but she knew that wouldn’t work. So she squeezed through the cage to escape, losing some of her feathers in the process. Then she went to the next place, where a falconer thought to use her to kill smaller birds, but she didn’t like that, either. It reminded her of her brothers, and the falconer still didn’t see her as a person, so she left, and more of her feathers broke off when she tore off the hood he used to train her to fly. She went to half a dozen places like this, to people who wanted her as a pretty pet or a piece of decoration or a tool, but never as a girl.”
He ducked under a low branch as they crossed the line of trees. “Finally she found a witch and her boy. By this time, almost all her feathers were gone, and she could barely fly. But the boy saw her resting by the well, and he had enough magic to know who she really was, so he ran and found his mother. And they took off her coat of feathers and gave her something to eat, and in the morning she was the witch’s daughter.”
“And this owl, they said she was like you?” Sava asked.
“Yes. I hated it as a kid, but I suppose … The point is that sometimes you have to make a long journey to understand who you are or to find out where you belong. So I was Aunt Grace’s owl, because I left town to find myself, and I didn’t belong to anyone yet.”
Sava nodded slowly. “I think I see it. But do you still hate the name? I can stop saying it, if it hurts you to think of it.”
“No. I think it’s nice. But I don’t know. Maybe I can take my own feather coat off one day.”
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About the Author(s)
Iris Foxglove is a shared pen name between two authors, Avon Gale and Fae Loxley. Together, they’re writing fantasy with an emphasis on biological imperative kink (“BDSM alternate universe” or “D/s-verse”), complex worldbuilding and unforgettable characters.
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