Curse of the Celts Clara O'Connor (new reading txt) 📖

unresisting. We worked together to pull off his trousers but it was awkward. I noticed the tree that I had glimpsed before, at the inn, stretching out in a swirling pattern across one thigh. I traced my fingers across it lightly and he shivered. His hands were gentle on my body as he pulled me to him, as if I was a thing that would shatter at his touch. I took another moment, focusing on his full bottom lip, then on his hooded eyes which were watchful beneath my gaze.

Finally, I lowered my lips to his, pressing my frozen ones to his heat. A whisper, a breeze of a touch, then another. His chest expanded under my hand. The beat of his heart was the only sound, its strength lending some to mine. It pulsed within me, sending warmth through my body, bringing me back to life. He pulled his head back, his eyes glittering in the dark as he surveyed my expression. His tattoos were a swirling pattern across the width of his shoulders in the half-light. He turned us, so that he was on top and looking down at me.

And then he met me.

He was a mass of Celtic tattoos swirling above me and around me. Devyn had borne none until recently, his whole adult life having been spent hiding his heritage, unlike the proud, arrogant Gideon who had sneered at Devyn.

There was touch, sensation, in the rude warmth of the pallet as he joined with me.

And then heat and flame tore through the ice and fog, exploding in my mind as I cried out.

And as I came down, I cried out again. His muscular arms and legs cocooned me as though he could shield me bodily from my pain. But my grief could not be thwarted and my tears fell and fell, until finally, there were no more.

I woke, stiff and wrecked in both body and mind. Lifting my head from the shelter of a broad shoulder, my heart leapt and then fell as Gideon’s lashes lifted and I remembered it all. Their golden glow froze as he saw my expression.

Heart and soul empty, I untangled myself and rose from the thin pallet. Stepping over the gaping maw of the handfast bangle which lay broken open on the floor, I pulled my bloody, smoky clothes back on.

I went out into the misty morning and put one foot in front of the other, my steps carrying me down the hill.

To bury Devyn.

THE END

Don’t miss Legend of the Lakes, the third and final chapter in The Once and Future Queen trilogy.

You can get your copy right here!

Acknowledgments

This book is about a search to find a place to call home. As I worked on it over the strange summer of 2020 I have never had more cause to be grateful for the friends and family who make up mine. This book is dedicated with love and thanks to all who offered to share theirs when this crazy pandemic struck at the worst possible time. Una, Ger, Liam and Lucy – for the best summer ever. Eilish, Mickey, Muireann and Joe – for autumn weekends and all our Christmases. Kim, Tom and Emily – who I could not reach, and dearly missed. Ida and Ashley, who kept the flag flying in the sunshine. And of course, Mum and Dad – for everything. Special shout out to Joy and Chutney, who shared my fate.

This trilogy had a home very early on, though as this strange year unfolded, many launch dates. So many industries came under pressure, and I have such admiration for those I watched in the publishing industry fight to do right by their authors and booksellers while dealing with the stresses and pressures we all faced in one form or another in the Spring and Summer of 2020. For many, reading and indeed writing was a form of escape.

Thank you to all the publishers who kept the wheels turning. Particularly to Bethan and Charlotte for your encouragement when the world was mad, Melanie and Claire who managed to make a splash in a crazy book year, Lydia and Tony for your focus and clarity, and Laura and Andrew for your creations. To everyone at One More Chapter for powering on in challenging times.

A special thank you to the bookshops and booksellers who kept us supplied, especially those who fight hard to keep their doors open every year… but never harder than this one.

And most especially thanks to you – the readers who have chosen to stick with me as I explore this world. Hope to see you again soon!

Cx

Author Q & A

What were the most difficult world-building challenges when it came to creating Curse of the Celts?

The Celts and Technicalities

Technically, the Celts aren’t so much a race as an identity. A culture intertwined with a way of living and experiencing the world. Art, language, religion, music, these are the things which tie the Celtic peoples together. The Romans thought the Keltoi wild and uncivilized, and slowly but surely conquered them, though some strands of this culture remained strong, broadly across the north western fringes of the Roman Empire. In my world more of Britannia stayed free, or rather fought to win back their lands, remaining essentially Celts across the centuries, arriving in the modern day still with tattoos, torcs, druids, festivals and mythology.

Speaking of technicalities. I created an alternate history and world but sometimes made a decision in the interests of keeping it simple, because occasionally the truth is stranger than fiction.

To give just a few instances of this – the Celts actually started their day at sunset but including this truth didn’t add anything but confusion.

I used the name Samhain instead of Halloween to make it more Celtic than the Christianised variant – coming from the day before Hallows’ Day or All Saints’ Day – choosing the Irish name despite my story being much closer to Wales