Dance of Samhain: A Fated Immortals Novel, #0.5

By Bethany Strobel

Under the flickering flames of the Samhain bon fire, when the veil between the mortal world and the one beyond is thinnest, in the mists of the darkest hour between the setting and the rising suns, I was born, and I was forever cursed.

They say I killed her, my mother. And as I took my first breath, she took her last. The clan was scared. They said I was touched by the darkest spirit and born with a full head of moonlight-white hair. Maybe they're right, my clansmen. Maybe I am cursed, but I have a secret, and I'll never tell it...

...I'm getting ahead of myself. Perhaps the story I should tell is that of my mother and the stranger who came to our village exactly eight months and twenty-eight days before my birth...

 

Read Eimear's story in Dance of Samhain today!
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bethany Strobel
• Release date: Apr 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781386197966

Bethany Strobel

Recently, my family and I moved to our happy place, the beach, and we couldn't feel more blessed. In between being a full time mommy to two wonderful children who never cease to amaze me, and being a wife to the bet hubby ever, I try to squeeze time to write into my hectic life everyday. Sometimes, I find myself in full author mode and write into the wee hours of the morning. A special thanks goes out to my hubby for putting up with my artistic spurts. I pour my heart into my writing and fall in love with each and every one of my characters as i hope you will fall in love with them too. As the Destiny Series continues to grow, I will also be branching out into the MG/YA world and starting a project close to my heart. I hope you enjoy the content. Thanks for stopping by, tell a fellow reader, and drop me a line in the contact page.

Book preview

One

Under the flickering flames of the Samhain bonfire, when the veil between the mortal world and the one beyond is thinnest, in the mists that filled the darkest hour between the setting and the rising suns, I was born, and I was forever cursed.

They say I killed her, my mother. And as I took my first breath, she took her last. The clan was scared. They said I was touched by the darkest evil and born with a full head of moonlight-white hair. Maybe they’re right, my clansmen. Maybe I am cursed, but I have a secret that I’ll never tell them...

My mother was the most powerful priestess in the clan. She was respected and revered and even allowed to walk amongst the most powerful druids. Before she left this world for the next, she gave me something, a gift more precious than life. With a soft incantation and a silent plea she bequeathed me all of her knowledge. When I opened my eyes for the first time that night, it was to a world I had already seen through my mother’s eyes. I was awakened. Fully conscious.

With no father, so to speak, it fell upon the clansmen to place me into a suitable home, as was our custom. But even the barren women of the clan could not open their arms to a child born of the shadows, and so the duty of rearing me fell to the druids. They took me in, fostered me, and I was called Eimear. They gave me their knowledge and trained me in their ways. I was studious. I had a passion for learning, a thirst for knowledge. But no matter what I did, or how hard I tried to prove to them that I fit in, they remained always fearful of me.

My white hair, it disconcerted them. Twice a year, much to my bereavement, the druids would hold me down and shear it off almost to my scalp. Then, much to their horror and my amazement, it would grow back twice as long, twice as fast. It was just another reason they all believed I was cursed. The first time I had a vision, a streak of gray grew thick from my scalp, the only blot of color in my otherwise scandalous hair. They say my mother had visions.

But I think I’m getting ahead of