Happy Book Release to Betrothed by Lola White!
Genre: paranormal
romance/suspense
Publisher:
Totally Bound Publishing
Date of Early
Release: March 27, 2015
Date of General
Release: April 24, 2015
Word Count:
93,000
In witching society, magic and politics are the only things that
matter, and marriages are arranged for advantage rather than love.
But neither Ileana Lovasz nor Eliasz Levy are looking for love. Humiliated by a
string of broken betrothals, Ileana only wants freedom from her manipulative
grandfather. Eliasz simply wants an alliance with Ileana’s brother Silviu, a
man rising through the witching ranks. That is, until the Lovasz woman arrives
at his home and stirs up emotions he’d never thought to feel.
Silviu has bigger things on his mind than his sister’s marriage. Georgeanne
Davenold, Silviu’s betrothed and the key to his rise in power, is back in his life
after a ten year separation that left her distrustful of his intentions. Their
union is a novelty, spanning the divide between Matriarchal and Patriarchal
Families. Their union is also alarming, combining the influence and magic of
two witches only heard of in myth and legend.
Ileana, Eliasz, Silviu and Georgie must build an alliance that will help them
all get what they want but, with too many lies and too many enemies, the game
they’re playing turns deadly. When the two women come under attack, neither
Silviu nor Eliasz knows which is the target. They only know they will protect
the women their hearts have claimed as their own, even though that means
defying the traditions of witching society, risking every goal they hold dear
and confronting the dangerous members of their own families.
Excerpt:
“Georgeanne Davenold is now old
enough for me to do exactly as I wish to her, without her Family’s
interference.”
Vasile stared at his son for a long
moment, leaving Silviu feeling weighed and measured, evaluated in a way he’d
grown used to, years before. It still wasn’t easy to keep calm under the silver
stare.
“Don’t lose your head, my boy. This
isn’t some female to take without consideration.”
Silviu hefted a brow. “I’ve never
had any complaints.”
Vasile scowled. “You put your
damned heart on your sleeve and you’ll lose every advantage you’re likely to
gain with that girl. She’s been molded in Madeleine’s image. Do not
underestimate her.”
“That’s exactly what you want,
Father. A woman as strong as Madeleine. Her entire life has been arranged by
you for that very reason. She was always meant to be Madeleine’s second reign.”
“And your first, but she’s your
weakness,” Vasile spat, abruptly leaning forward in his chair. One rigid finger
drilled into his desktop, emphasizing his point. “I don’t know what the hell it
is about her, but I could see it the moment you met. Do not jeopardize all
we’ve worked toward for a female who will never allow you to be her weakness.
She has her own agenda and, with the sole exception of that Beltane night,
she’s never given us any reason to think she would be willing to put it aside
to please you!”
Surprise held Silviu for a
breathless moment, a hideous vulnerability sweeping over him at how easily his
father had read him. He cleared his throat with effort. “We both want to lead
the covens. What makes you think her agenda wouldn’t match mine, if properly
explained to her?”
“You won’t win the heart of a
matriarchal female,” Vasile countered. “You’re too…male, for any of them. So,
don’t even bother to try.”
Silviu hid the fear spearing
through him by slouching back in his chair, a deliberate insouciance that was
all that ever truly fooled his father. “I know. It’s a political alliance, not
a love match.”
Vasile lost some of the tension in
his shoulders. “Only Georgeanne can unlock your full potential, only she can
provide a conduit for all the magic that should rightfully be yours. Together,
you could join the Families, power from both sides of the Schism. Just think!
You will rule with your combined power over all the covens.”
“Just as you wanted, Father.”
With one last searching glance,
Vasile shifted back in his chair, a crafty gleam sparkling in the depths of the
eyes he finally turned on his daughter. “Eliasz wants you.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she scoffed.
“He doesn’t even know me.”
Vasile shook his head. “There is no
earthly reason why the powerful Levys would want to ally themselves with our
Family except Eliasz’s lust. We aren’t politically relevant.”
“But that will change,” Silviu
said.
“Yes, but no one in the Levy Family
knows the extent of my plans.” Vasile raised a brow at Ileana. “You will do
everything in your power to keep Eliasz’s attention and win his heart. Do you
understand me?”
Ileana’s eyes went wide. “Throwing
me into Eliasz’s bed, then?”
Vasile pointedly eyed the tiny
skirt riding high on his daughter’s thighs. “Are you going to tell me you’re a
virgin?”
“I won’t tell you anything on the
matter at all, Father.” Ileana cocked her head. “What makes you think this time
will be any different from before? Grandfather is going to find some reason to
pull back from this alliance.”
Vasile’s hard face went rigid. A
low growl ripped from his throat. “The old fool has no idea how much he’s cost
this Family. He is the reason we have no power in the witching world, but so
long as he wields the magic of our bloodline we have no weapon strong enough to
bring him down.”
“We need this alliance,” Silviu
said, turning to take Ileana’s cold fingers and squeezing gently. He tried to
give her comfort, hope. For so long, they’d been each other’s support in the
face of their Family’s machinations. “The Levys are no joke, Iley. This one
will go through.”
“You can’t promise that,” she
argued.
“We’ll do our best.” Vasile rapped
his knuckles against his desktop. “But you’ll have to do your part, girl. Wrap
that man around your finger. I know you can do it. You can be very charming
when you put your mind to it. People naturally like you.”
“Convince him to elope with me,
perhaps?”
“If need be, yes.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Silviu glanced at his sister, the
sudden calmness in her voice sounding alarms in his skull. She only used that
tone when she was about to challenge the archaic, patriarchal rules they were
forced to live by.
Vasile seemed unaware as he moved
on to his favorite subject—intrigue. “Now, as for the meeting with the Levys, I
will expect very specific things from both of you.”
It was nearly the witching hour
before they were given permission to leave their father’s presence, lectures
and orders still ringing in Silviu’s ears. When he slipped out into the cold
hallway, he shut the study door behind him carefully, calmly and with complete
control.
Only then did he lean back against
the wall, close his eyes and let a shudder born of too many emotions to fully
contain roll through him. Tension and intrigue fell from his shoulders, making
him feel half his weight, now that his father’s focused gaze was no longer
resting on him.
“Now’s your chance, Silver,” Ileana
whispered.
He nodded. “And yours. We will both
be bolder than we’ve ever dared before.”
“I’ll give it everything I have,”
she promised.
Dragging in a deep breath,
gathering his cracking armor of calm around him once more, Silviu set off
toward his bedroom, making his own plans for Georgeanne Davenold that had
nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with pleasure.
Author Bio
Lola
White writes what she writes, which is erotic fiction. Sometimes horror,
sometimes paranormal, sometimes romance. It’s all sexy, but never predictable
because she likes to twist reality at its edges in her stories. She likes
delving into the emotions of her characters, finding their strengths and
weaknesses, and seeing (and showing) how they get themselves out of whatever
trouble has found them—if they can. Don’t try to label her collection of tales
beyond the most basic description, EROTICA, because she writes whatever story
comes to mind, whatever speaks to her. She’s certain something in her library
will speak to you, too.
Find Lola
Online
