Book Title: Mystique of the Fallen (D’Vaire, Book 42)
Author and Publisher: Jessamyn Kingley
Cover Artist: LJ Anderson of Mayhem Cover Creations
Release Date: October 24, 2024
Genres/Tropes: MM Fantasy/Paranormal Romance, Fated Mates
Heat Rating: 3 flames
Length: 90 660 words
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
Two men from opposite worlds will discover if fate has all the answers.
Blurb
Venerable Knight Roman Calixtus was once renowned for his conquests. But the fallen knight put those days behind him. A dream grew inside him thanks to his closest friends finding their mates, and now Roman impatiently waits for the other half of his soul. But nothing prepares him for the day he discovers he is paired with a human.
Fallen knights do not get along with humans. None of them have human mates. It shocks Roman, and even the goddesses themselves are surprised by the match. Roman wants to find love. Instead, he is confronted with a belligerent human who believes Roman is a zombie.
Grant’s life is a mess. His boyfriend is controlling. His job is crap, and so is Grant’s outlook. The last thing he needs is a fallen knight in his face, trying to convince him they are meant to be together. Grant no longer trusts tender emotions, nor does he want to speak to anyone who is undead.
The connection Roman wanted is fraught with issues. So is the future, and neither man is prepared for what comes next. In order to get the matebond of Roman’s dreams, he needs the help of a powerful sorcerer and the diligent work of the goddesses watching over their charges.
In the end, Grant and Roman discover that, despite everything, they are a perfect match.
“Hello?”
Grant slunk off to the kitchen to grab another beer. “Hey.”
“Do you ever sleep?”
“Sure. I’m like your vampire friends, I guess. I like to stay up all night and hide from the sun during the day.”
“Grant, most vampires keep the same day hours I do. While they are sensitive to the sun, they can drink more blood to recover from exposure.”
“Oh.”
“I thought you were reading the stuff I left for you. There was no mention of vampires avoiding the sunlight.”
Grant pulled a can from his fridge, which he pocketed, then yanked out a second one. Once he was loaded up on beverages, Grant lumbered to the couch and dropped onto it. “I like to imagine them switching to bats and sleeping in coffins.”
“And I’m just some brain-eating zombie, right?”
Uncomfortable with the ire in Roman’s voice, Grant gulped half his beer as color rose to his cheeks.
“I didn’t think you ate brains,” Grant mumbled.
“I don’t lump every human into the asshole category, although I haven’t had many positive encounters with them.”
“You don’t like humans?” Grant asked, surprised. He didn’t know what it said about him that it’d never occurred to him that Roman might be uncomfortable with his race too.
“How much about fallen knights have you learned?”
“I skimmed or skipped the historical stuff, but I learned you’re incorruptible. My focus was more on the mates thing because I didn’t really know shit about it. The vomiting isn’t going away, is it?”
“No, I’m afraid that’s a permanent affliction. How’s the boyfriend taking it?”
“Reg is pissed,” Grant confided. “I needed some space to think, so I told him I had a stomach bug. He hates being sick, so he’s been avoiding me. I’ve got some plans, but yeah, I don’t want to talk about that.”
“Okay, that’s fair. Let’s go back to the human stuff. Did you read anything about my bosses? The Reverent Knights?”
Grant’s brow creased as he tried to recall anything about Roman’s bosses, but his mind was blank. “If I did, I forgot.”
“I don’t expect you to memorize stuff,” Roman replied with a chuckle. “Here’s the deal. Unlike me, they remember their lives before they were resurrected. They were dragon shifters. Fate had granted them the highest title among dragons, and they ruled as Emperors for fifty years. Then the man in charge of ensuring they were protected allowed hundreds of humans into their castle. Those humans murdered the now Reverent Knights. My race only exists because humans killed the dragon shifters the Council wanted to create an alliance with to defend them.”
If Grant had read that, he would’ve recalled the gruesome tale. “Wow.”
“Yeah, that happened in 1369, and humans are unlikely to care about the trajectory of the Council or the story of the fallen knights, so I’m not surprised you didn’t know about my bosses.”
“Is it verifiable though? To anyone human?”
“I don’t know,” Roman said. “Our sources of information are vastly different. All I can suggest is that you Google it.”
“You have Google?”
“Yep.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
Another one of those sexy chuckles rumbled through Grant’s ear. “Of course.”
“Why do you have a car if you can teleport?”
“Because our laws state we must teleport to designated Dérive stations or to private residences of friends and family. It prevents us from popping into someone on the street and scaring the shit out of them. So, we typically drive from the closest Dérive station to our destination.”
“Yeah, I could see how frightening it would be if people were constantly teleporting everywhere.”
“Exactly, our Council does their best to improve the lives of our people in every way they can.”
“I’d disappear if I could,” Grant whispered.
The confession came out of nowhere, but Grant couldn’t take back the words. They were the truth, but the last thing he should be doing was alerting anyone to the fact that he was leaving his life behind. But he’d previously mentioned it to Roman, so it wasn’t as if the fallen knight was hearing anything new.
Grant hated the fear building inside him, but staying was perhaps more terrifying. Reginald wouldn’t take the news well that Grant was the mate of a fallen knight.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Roman asked kindly.
“No. No, I can’t. I should go.”
“I’m glad you called.”
“Bye,” Grant said and quickly disconnected.
What the hell had he been thinking to call Roman again? Grant’s world was literally crumbling around his ears, and he needed to be packing instead of giving in to his curiosity about Roman. He probably only had a couple of days left before his boyfriend would be pounding on his door again. Laying his head on the cushion behind him and staring at the ceiling, Grant knew he should go to bed so he could get an early start on packing the next day.
Instead, he popped open the second can of beer and dug the Council book he was reading out from under his couch to read about Roman’s bosses.
Jessamyn Kingley has published over thirty titles and refuses to pick a favorite among them. With an extraordinary passion for her characters, she enthusiastically adds tales to her D’Vaire series and avidly re-reads them whenever her schedule allows. After decades living in the Washington, DC area, she now resides in Nevada with her husband and their three spoiled cats. When she is not writing or adding new ideas to her beloved notebooks, she is gaming with family and friends.
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