Wintry Tales Of A Fire Witch 🪄

Jan 11, 2023 4:01 pm

This week, my husband, cats, and I have shivered in a chilly house because our heater's exhaust motor died on Sunday morning. Therefore, we've made do with 2 electric space heaters. Our living room currently sits at 61º F, or 16º C. 🥶

I know. It could be worse. Thank goodness it hasn't been below freezing in South Carolina lately. Our 4 kitties haven't been happy, though, especially if I stick my cold hands under their toasty bodies in an attempt to warm up! 🤣

No, I don't make a habit of doing that.

The repair dude is here right now replacing the motor, so with any luck, by the time you read this email, it might be getting warmer in the Carhart house! 🏠

Fingers crossed!

What about you? Have you had any heating or AC issues this season? If so, what did you do to survive the "extreme" temperatures? How long did you have to wait for things to get repaired? Send me a reply and let me know.

❄ Get Winter Wonders Before It's Gone ❄

Now let's move on to some more pleasant stuff! 😍

If you're the kind of reader who likes to snag BookFunnel anthologies stuffed with stories by a friendly group of authors, then you probably picked up Winter Wonders back when it first came out in November. If not, this email is your reminder to get it before it's gone. It'll be coming down from BookFunnel at the end of January, and then you might have to pay individually to read everyone's short stories & novellas!

(Or each story might end up being free. Who knows? Not me! 😉)

I realize you might not want your inbox clogged with a dozen (or more) author newsletters. All we do is "bwah bwah bwah," right? And try to shove books in your mouth. Or bean you over the head with them. Or something.

If that's you, but you still secretly wish you could read the short story I contributed to Winter Wonders, then you'll just have to wait until March. I've got something BIG in the works that involves all the books in my first-ever series, including the Winter Wonders short.

This "BIG something" will NOT be free, though, so if you want to add the story to your collection before you'll have to pay, now's the time!

So what exactly happens in Winter Flame, my contribution to the anthology? Keep reading for a peek at the blurb and a teaser starring Vreni Scheele—billionaire daughter with a yearning to become a Teuton fire witch. 🔥

Winter Flame Blurb

“No ice witch can steal you away from me . . . .”

For a lifetime, Vreni has moved among the Teuton people as an outsider, her fire magic lurking just beyond her reach. With the help of her beloved partner Stefan, her elemental gifts creep ever closer to the surface, escalating her hopes. And her impatience. She needs her fire magic to show itself so she and Stefan can start a family of their own.

Now two Las Vegas billionaires appear on the scene, wielding enchantments suggestive of the dark path. One of them is an ice witch, and she’s looking to snare herself a mate. She sets her sights on Stefan, while Vreni fights to awaken her slumbering magic.

Can Vreni seize a fiery Christmas gift? Or will her frosty rival bewitch Stefan’s heart?

Winter Flame Snippet

Swanie beckoned Vreni into the house. “Come on. We’ve got to dress you up nice and toasty so you don’t turn into an icicle while I’m carrying you to the glade.”

They adjourned to the private suite Swanie shared with her husband. Vreni’s friend marched straight to a walk-in closet, tossing articles of clothing onto the floor. Thermal underwear. A pair of snow pants. Two extra long-sleeved shirts for Vreni to add to the borrowed sweater she wore.

“I know my pants are a little short for you, but we can layer your feet in socks. Is your shoe size bigger than mine?” Swanie related the number, and Vreni answered that it was. “I can run and ask Lise for a pair of boots. Or you can just use my husband's boots.”

“Lise’s would be great. Pretty sure your husband's feet are a lot bigger than mine, and I have to be able to sneak around.” Vreni eyed the pairs of male footwear she could see from the closet doorway.

“Sounds good. You start getting dressed and I’ll be right back.” Swanie sprinted from the room with a gust of icy flakes trailing her. Vreni shook her head and turned for the bathroom, not wanting to need it while wrapped in multiple layers. She wished her fire would make those layers unnecessary. But it was not meant to be, at least not yet.

Would her magic rear into existence if the Vegas Teutons actually threatened Stefan?

No traces of nervousness lingered within her as she stuffed herself into Swanie’s clothing. None of it truly fit, for her good friend stood a handbreadth shorter than she did. But she rolled up a pair of knee socks over the thermal underwear and stretched regular tube socks over her borrowed pair of jeans. They looked like floods on her, but that was no matter. Vreni had just secured the snow pants over her other clothing when Swanie reappeared, a pair of thick boots and a woolen scarf in tow.

“My plan is to set you onto a sturdy tree branch about ten or so meters outside the glade,” Swanie said as she waited for Vreni to finish bundling up. “Found a thick tree with a V a few meters up while my husband and I were dreaming. Reinforced the branches with some hearty ice.”

“Okay then. I’m ready. Do you want me to go out on your balcony or what?” Vreni cocked her head at her friend, who had not added any extra clothing to the loose blouse and sweatpants she wore. Swanie’s ice would coat her mortal body from head to toe once her spirit ascended into the ether, but she need not fear the cold. A Teuton’s body and element worked in tandem, no matter the destructive nature of said element. Vreni, meanwhile, felt like Randy from A Christmas Story. Boots, snow pants, down-stuffed winter coat, woolen hat and scarf, fur-lined leather gloves.

“The balcony’s as good a place as any. Do you want me to send Stefan your way after you get settled in the tree? Obviously you won’t be able to talk to me once we’re there, since you can’t project thoughts.” A look of pity crossed Swanie’s features.

“Just ask me yes or no questions. And I can whisper, if nothing else. But please do ask Stefan to come to me. I need to be the one to warn him about Alyssa.” Vreni strode to the balcony doors, a blast of snowy air greeting her the instant she opened them. Low clouds draped the night sky, and tiny snowflakes painted the atmosphere in muted white. Perfect cover for an ice witch.

Vreni shut the doors behind her and walked to the center of the balcony. The Thaden back gardens stretched out below, layered in pristine snowfall. It occurred to her to wonder what it would be like to have an icy spirit launch her into the cloud cover and deposit her onto a tree branch. Stefan’s warm wind had carried her in countless elemental dances, but he had never used his spirit to cast her up into the heavens. What if her body was too heavy for Swanie?

Whatever you do, don’t freak out. Don’t scream and don’t fight me. The orders entered Vreni’s brain as her lips formed an uncertain frown. Before she could respond or even process what Swanie’s mental voice had told her, icy arms locked around her torso and rocketed her toward the clouds in a gale of frost. Vreni gasped as the cloud’s vapor closed around her body, but she had the foresight to squeeze her eyelids shut when a sensation of incredible speed gripped her. Her heart raced and she fought an urge to scream.

We’re there. I’m going to put you down, okay? Try to contain yourself. You’re panicking. I can sense it. If you make too much noise, the priests in the glade will hear you, Swanie warned her.

Swanie’s thoughts granted Vreni a lifeline. She clung to her friend’s words as she continued to pant, her heart pounding like it wished to leap from her chest. She could feel her fire’s turmoil. When Swanie set her butt into the tree trunk’s thick V, Vreni reached one hand out to the trunk beside her, mortal terror slicing at her from the inside. Her fire was trying to claw its way free.

Breathe, Vreni. Concentrate on that basic action. You’re safe here as long as you don’t jump to the ground. Tell me you’re okay and then I’ll go get Stefan. I’m pretty sure I sense his wind.

Vreni managed to pry her eyelids open, her chest still heaving as she fought multiple battles inside her spirit. She blinked rapidly and studied her surroundings. Snow-coated branches stretched outward and overhead, more weaving between where she sat and the ground below. She heard murmuring voices in the distance, all of them male. The familiar scent of fire drifted along the breeze, the sounds of crackling wood identifying it as a campfire or bonfire. Fed with natural fuel, not magic. Were the fiery priests saving their strength to counter Alan and Alyssa, the Vegas Teutons?

Vreni rubbed her temple with her free hand and took a deep breath, silently begging her heart rate to slow. She needed to keep her wits in order to convince Stefan to leave now, before her witchy rival invoked a dark spell to sway his heart. She narrowed her eyes toward the glow of firelight some distance away, then whispered to Swanie, “I’m okay. I’m ready. Send Stefan my way.”

Will do. An icy sensation caressed Vreni’s flushed cheek before vanishing. While her mortal eyes could not see Swanie’s ethereal form, she knew her friend would not let her down. She had managed to carry her several kilometers south of her house on the power of her frosty spirit alone. Vreni was impressed, and anticipation grew within her again. Soon she would be able to do the same using her own element. But unless her fire manifested as black, it would be difficult to hide such ventures from everyday humans.

Eventually she heard someone clomping through the snow beneath her hideout and caught sight of a dark figure headed her way. She could not make out any of Stefan’s features, for he wore the black robe of a Teuton priest, deep shadows swathing him as he took to the branches. When he reached her position at the trunk’s V, he steadied himself on the branches beneath her and gathered her into his arms. “Vreni, my little witch. What are you doing up here?”

He spoke so low she barely heard his voice, but she leaned into him, his familiar presence relaxing her tense muscles. She turned her lips toward his face, questing for a kiss, and he obliged her. His warmth restored her spirit and augmented her resolve. Pulling away, she looked into his face, its pale contours visible thanks to the snowfall’s crystal radiance.

“I’ve been trying to text you. Two Teuton billionaires from Las Vegas called this meeting tonight. They’ve been staying with my parents. Alan and Alyssa Renner, a man and his daughter. Alyssa wants to find herself a Teuton husband by any means necessary. Even dark sorcery.”

Warm fingers stroked Vreni’s cheek. “Are you afraid she’ll be able to thwart my love for you?”

Vreni leaned into her priest’s gentle touch. “Maybe? I don’t know. But some of the things she and Alan said imply the Vegas Teutons work with demons.”

“Wuotan is the overlord of wisdom and war, not love or even lust.”

“But it’s not like Wuotan’s the only demon out there. What if Alan or Alyssa knows how to call power from other sources? I don’t want to lose you to some icy bitch!”

“She’s ice?” Stefan snorted and kissed Vreni’s nose. “If I wanted ice, I would have taken Swanie before she became München’s Lady. I like fire, and I like you. Demonic spells can do nothing to change that.”

Vreni had to stifle a moan at her beloved’s devotion. She pulled away from him just a little, ordering herself to stay focused. She swung her legs over the V’s edge, her latent fire scratching at her again, reacting to her priest’s sultry wind. “Swanie knows what’s up. She’s the one who brought me here. Her Keyholder is also aware they might try something. But I think you ought to leave now or stay up here with me, so Alyssa’s spells can’t harm you.”

“Looks like I’ll be staying here,” Stefan replied under his breath, his hooded face turned toward the glade. “I sense two potent sorcerers arriving, one of black fire and one of ice. We can study what they do from here, and if things get dangerous, we’ll run to my car.”

That seemed as good a plan as any. Vreni slid the gloved fingers of her right hand through her partner’s left, clinging tight. She and Stefan fell silent while she tried to hear every word spoken in the glade.

Alan was in the process of introducing himself and his daughter, reciting a spiel about the Teuton community in Las Vegas and how they had openings for fertile men willing to pair themselves with their women. He promised a lifelong stipend for any young Teuton man who wished to relocate. Alan also brought up the fact that European Teuton women struggled with childbirth due to Wuotan’s interference—an unfortunate truth. “Our females harbor supernatural protection against that sort of thing. Our wives bear three to six children without difficulty, without sickness.”

“This is starting to sound appealing,” Stefan murmured in Vreni’s ear.

“What if Alan’s weaving spells into his words?” Vreni whispered back, abruptly nervous.

The Keyholder's voice rose over Alan’s gilded phrases, authority evident in his tone. “If your purpose is to find suitors for your daughter and other unwed females, I’m afraid you both arrived a few years too soon. The Taubenball of Nürnberg is the largest celebration held for such a purpose. The next one will take place in 2009.”

Vreni grinned to herself, thinking that the Nürnberg Teutons were silly for holding a formal dating event every five years. She and Stefan had never attended; they had each other. Alan seemed unmoved by Hans’ intrusion. Within seconds, his voice reached Vreni’s ears again, his pronouncement prompting her blood to run cold.

“I speak now to the four of you standing before me who have not yet found yourselves a wife. This one, this one, you, and you. Come forward and look upon my daughter in the firelight, allow her to greet you as Teuton witch to Teuton priest. And to the one who lurks in the trees, know that I see you, as does my daughter. We see that your arms shield a witch whose power refuses to awaken. Come forward now and experience the wonders you have chosen to forsake.”

*** * ***

Want to find out what happens next? Will the Vegas Teutons weave a spell over Stefan and tear him away from Vreni? Or will Vreni arise victorious?

What color is Vreni's fire magic, anyway?

Learn all the answers in Winter Wonders!

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/8vf3yn51uc

Fun Photos

In honor of Vreni's adventures in the snow, today's pictures are a pair my husband took last January. We actually had 6 inches (15 centimeters) of snow at our house in South Carolina! That's a huge event in our neck of the woods. Meant we couldn't go out on the roads much since they don't get salted or plowed all that well. 😉 Thankfully, everything melted within two days. But it sure was pretty while it lasted!

(Yes, that one picture is me. Yes, I'm a weirdo and a Slytherin. 💚)

✨ PNR & Fantasy Romance Reads ✨

Got almost 100 eBooks for you to peruse in this week's book fair. I just scrolled through it myself and noticed a NEW permafree by an author whose books are usually in KU! Is she about to publish her books on all retailers like I do? 😱

Who knows? All I know is now I can finally read one of her books myself.

(Yep, I buy on Smashwords & read in Calibre. Don't judge. 😏)

✨ Check It Out! ✨