The Difficulties Ahead: Misfortune and Magic

By Kari Kilgore

The Heartbreak of Acceptance

Selene Knight fiercely loves and protects her children. Keeping them from too much pain and sadness.
Watching her son Arch struggle in silence shatters her own heart.
Only trying to get others to fight for him hurts her worse.
Can she convince the ones who matter most to accept the truth and help them both?

 

Also available in the collection Fantastic Side Trips: Side Characters Take Center Stage

 

An excerpt from The Difficulties Ahead:

Accepting What No One Wants to Admit

 

Moabar met Selene's gaze, but didn't flinch or say a word.

"They are not creating the problem, Moabar! It's not imaginary, and it's not any sort of coincidence. This isn't bad luck that swirls around Arch for no reason at all." Her voice broke and grew ragged, but she couldn't stop now that she was finally putting words to the horrible reality.

"The bad luck is part of him. He creates it somehow. He can't help it, and he hates it as much as we do, but none of that changes the fact that he cannot escape it."

He stared up at her, his blue eyes wide and increasingly miserable.

Selene's heart broke for him nearly as much as it did for their son.

"I know what you say is true," he said, his voice rough as well. "But I can't bear to think of it. He's a child, Selene. Just a boy. If I can't hold this dreadful thought in my head, how can we expect him to understand?"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spiral Publishing, Ltd
• Release date: Oct 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201442682

Kari Kilgore

Kari Kilgore started her first published novel Until Death in Transylvania, Romania, and finished it in Room 217 at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, where Stephen King got the idea for The Shining. That’s just one example of how real world inspiration drives her fiction. Kari’s first published novel Until Death was included on the Preliminary Ballot for the Bram Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in a First Novel in 2016. It was also a finalist for the Golden Stake Award at the Vampire Arts Festival in 2018. Recent professional short story sales include three to Fiction River anthology magazine, with the first due out in the September issue. Kari also has two stories in a holiday-themed anthology project with Kristine Kathryn Rusch due out over the holidays in 2019. Kari writes fantasy, science fiction, horror, and contemporary fiction, and she’s happiest when she surprises herself. She lives at the end of a long dirt road in the middle of the woods with her husband Jason Adams, various house critters, and wildlife they’re better off not knowing more about. Kari’s novels, novellas, and short stories are available at www.spiralpublishing.net, which also publishes books by Frank Kilgore and Jason Adams. For more information about Kari, upcoming publications, her travels and adventures, and random cool things that catch her attention, visit www.karikilgore.com.

Book preview

The Difficulties Ahead

For everyone who’s had to admit a hard truth

and take the steps to move forward

THE DIFFICULTIES AHEAD

A MISFORTUNE AND MAGIC STORY

KARI KILGORE

SPIRAL PUBLISHING, LTD.

THE DIFFICULTIES AHEAD

The fire in Lady Selene Sanderlin Knight’s private chambers roared much higher and hotter than she normally kept it.

But the howling of a snowstorm outside and the echoes of an equally furious storm inside her heart seemed to call for all that wood and heat and light and more.

The thick stone walls of Castle Knight usually managed to blunt the worst of the seasons, a blessing even if she often needed a much smaller fire for summer evenings. Being able to maintain the comfort of her sanctuary at such a small cost made the occasional draft easy to overlook.

Her tastes ran far less ornate than the sitting, dining, and meeting chambers she’d seen in other nearby castles. Including this one back when her mother-in-law held the title and duty to protect the lands of Fadlonah. Selene had carried out gilt-edged paintings, silver candlesticks and servingware, and enough silk from far across the wild Nifendraw Sea to clothe the entire castle staff in overly delicate luxury.

Now her private rooms—and the bed often shared with her beloved husband Lord Moabar Knight—reflected her preference for sturdy simplicity rather than impressive wealth. Cotton and wool bedclothes. More books than decorations. Simple