Join the authors at #MFRWHooks here http://mfrwbookhooks.blogspot.com for some great excerpts. Mine is from Temple of Fyre and is Free at most venuesBlurb:
Sold by her family to the priestesses of the Temple of Fyre, Ria soon masters using each of the four fyrestones, white, yellow, orange and scarlet. Her curiosity leads her to the archives and there, she learns things that disturb her. There are no men serving as priests but in the past there were. Men are kept in the harras where the priestesses visit. On the day of her testing she is ordered to perform a task she dislikes and refuses to destroy a town. Many of the priestesses fall into unconsciousness. Melera, the chief priestess, beats and banishes Ria for the carrion crows to consume. Ari was abandoned as a child and found by two elderly firestone miners. He has pursued this and is the best of the finders. He goes to the temple to sell the stones he has gleaned. On leaving, Ria attempts to steal the fyrestone he has worn since the day he was found. He thinks she is a boy and a thief and he takes her to his room at the inn. On discovering her identity, he refuses to turn her over to the priestesses and they leave town. They are searching for the fabled blue fyrestones. They also learn to use them they must be bonded physically, emotionally and spiritually. Can they learn to master the blue stones and defeat Malera so they can rule the temple with love and understanding?
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous start to a fantasy series. Don't miss this one
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 13, 2019
Ria has power but lacks knowledge. When challenged by the head of the all female Temple of Fyre, she loses and goes into exile. As she learns how to hone her strengths, she also learns the history of the Temple. Along the way she learns about love, but the priestesses have taught her that mating with a male costs a priestess her power. And another confrontation with the head priestess looms.
EXCERPT:
Ria stuffed the scroll she’d taken from the shelves beneath
her caftan and tightened the sash to make sure the cylinder holding the rolled
papyrus remained hidden. Beads of perspiration covered her forehead. She rubbed
the sleeve of her robe over her face. The night air held sultry remnants of the
heat of the day. Usually, the thick walls of the temple complex kept the rooms
and corridors cool. Tonight was different. The usual night breezes were absent,
so the heat remained. Perhaps the approaching solstice was the cause?
Or, maybe her fear of discovery caused her heart to thump
against her chest and her muscles to tighten into confining bands? She was in a
place where she had no right to be without the presence of one of the
priestesses. Acolytes were forbidden full access to the scrolls in the
scriptorium. She drew a deep breath. She’d acted out of necessity. The scroll
beneath her caftan was one she’d discovered during another of her night
searches. She wasn’t permitted to read this one, but she had, and the words
stirred questions her tutors refused to address.
On the morrow, her ability to control the flames of the
fyrestones would be tested. She would be ordered to call flames from a pair of
scarlet crystals and blend her blaze with those raised by the priestesses of
the circle. Then, the chief priestess would assign her a task. Ria believed the
things she’d read in this particular scroll would help her during the ordeal.
The test was not without risk. One slip and the flames she sought to control
could turn her into a living torch.
She crept to the scriptorium door and peered into the hall.
With senses alert, she listened and searched the shadows cast by the flickering
torches on the white plaster of the walls. Sensing no one was nearby she
scurried along the corridor toward the living quarters of the priestesses and
acolytes. With luck, she would reach her room without being discovered.
Her hand pressed against the scroll she wanted to read
again. The words of this particular one were vastly different from the lessons
she’d been taught by the priestesses. Had they lied? Were the ways to use the
fyrestones described in these writings true, or were they only a fable invented
by some ancient scribe?
There were other scrolls which told tales that seemed unreal.
The aged priestess in charge of the scriptorium had laughed when Ria asked
about dragons with eyes the color of the scarlet fyrestones. The old woman
scoffed when Ria showed her passages describing wands wielded by wizards that
sent lashes of bright or dark flames to control people.
There was no one she could ask if this scroll contained
truths. Questions weren’t encouraged. Still, she wanted to believe what she’d
read in this scroll about the uses of the stones. They told of helping the
people, and that appealed to her.
Ria sighed. Since the day she’d been bought from the slavers
by the chief priestess, her life, though interesting had been lonely. Not for
her the crowded classrooms, or the dormitory where she could form friendships
with the other acolytes. She had her own chamber and a private bathing room.
During her lessons, she’d been the only student. Even her meals had been taken
with the priestesses, not the other acolytes.
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