Excerpt: Arcana Rising

Happy Monday Everyone!

Wait. No. Mondays are never fun, unless of course they're part of a holiday weekend and we don't have to work. Then they're definitely cause for celebration. Alas, today is not such a day, BUT I do have something fun for you guys to make it a little more bearable.

Arcana Rising, the 4th book in Kresley Cole's epic young adult series releases today, and I have the pleasure of bringing you an excerpt to get you guys excited for it. While I'm depressingly behind on this series (as is the case with so many series *shakes fist at work*), the opening chapter of the first book remains one of the most intriguing openings I've ever read, and I remember it clear as day even years later. A unique world definitely worth trying if you haven't had the chance!

For now though, enjoy a little sneak peak at book four, and then run and try book one if you haven't already!

1

Day 382 A.F.

Death kept taking me farther from Jack. I stretched my arms out, fingers splayed toward the heat. "He can't be dead." I sobbed. "Can't. NO, NO, NOOOO!"

    "You want to follow the mortal? Get your revenge first. The Emperor mocks your pain."

    I could hear that fiend in my head--laughing.

    The red witch exploded inside me, a force that could never be contained. I shrieked, "You will PAY!"

    As the Emperor laughed, Death murmured in my ear, "I have your grandmother, Sievā. That was the gift I spoke of. We'll teach you how to kill the Emperor. You'll avenge Deveaux."

    "Don't you understand? Jack's not DEAD!" I screamed that over and over. "He's alive!"

    With my mind teetering on the brink, I spied something in the skies above us. I gaped, disbelieving.

    Real? Unreal? Just before oblivion took me down, a mountain of water curled over our heads, racing toward that hell of flames. 

    Circe's towering wave. Taller than a skyscraper.

    -Quake before me!-

    -Terror from the abyss!-

    Richter and Circe's calls boomed in my mind, jolting me back from the blackness.

    "Come!" Aric snatched me into his arms and sprinted from the clash. "When they meet, the blast and then the flood..."

    I stopped fighting him; the need to turn Richter's laughter into screams clawed at me, which meant I had to survive.

    Aric gave a sharp whistle, and a horse's nickering answered. Thanatos. With me secure in his arms, Aric leapt into the saddle, and spurred the warhorse into a frenzied gallop.

    We all but dove down a slope, then charged up the next. 

    I gazed over Aric's shoulder as that tidal wave crested above Richter's lake of lava.

    Heaving breaths, riding faster than humanly possible, Aric kept Thanatos at a breakneck pace. Up another mountain face. Down its slope--

    Circle struck.

    A hiss like a giant beast's. A detonation like a nuclear bomb.

    The shock wave was so loud my ears bled. As loud as the roar preceding the Flash.

    The air grew hotter and hotter. The ground rocked as a blast of scalding steam chased us.

    BOOM! The force sheared the top off the mountain just behind us. Boulders crashed all around as we careened into yet another valley. Still we rode.

    Aric grated, "Surge comes next."

    The ground quaked from the weight of an ocean of water. I could hear the surge shooting toward us. "Aric!"

    He got as far as he dared, as high as he could. "Hold on." Clutching me tight, he dropped from Thanatos who kept running.

    Behind the cap of another mountain, Aric braced for impact. He wedged his metal gauntlet between boulders, wrapping his other arm around me.

    Gaze locked on mine, he yelled "I'll never let you go!" We each sucked in a breath.

    The searing water hit. The explosive impact ripped me from his chest, but he caught my arm, clenching his fingers above my elbow. 

    Death's grip. The ungodly force of the flood. My watery scream...

    Aric never did let me go--

    My arm...gave way.

    Separated.

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ARCANA RISING

Losses mount and deadly new threats converge in this next action-packed tale of the Arcana Chronicles by #1 New York Times bestseller Kresley Cole.

When the battle is done . . .
The Emperor unleashed hell and annihilated an army, jeopardizing the future of mankind--but Circe struck back. The epic clash between them devastates the Arcana world and nearly kills Evie, separating her from her allies.

And all hope is lost . . .
With Aric missing and no sign that Jack and Selena escaped Richter's reach, Evie turns more and more to the darkness lurking inside her. Two Arcana emerge as game changers: one who could be her salvation, the other her worst nightmare.

Vengeance becomes everything.
To take on Richter, Evie must reunite with Death and mend their broken bond. But as she learns more about her role in the future--and her chilling past--will she become a monster like the Emperor? Or can Evie and her allies rise up from Richter's ashes, stronger than ever before?

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KRESLEY COLE

Kresley Cole is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the electrifying Immortals After Dark paranormal series, the young adult Arcana Chronicles series, the erotic Gamemakers Series, and five award-winning historical romances.

A master's grad and former athlete, she has traveled over much of the world and draws from those experiences to create her memorable characters and settings.

Her books have been translated into twenty foreign languages, garnered three RITA awards, and consistently appear on the bestseller lists, in the U.S. and abroad.

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