Exclusive Flash Ficlet and Giveaway: A Triad in Three Acts/Full Circle by Blaine D. Arden

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Thanks and welcome to Blaine D. Arden on the tour for the A Triad in Three Acts trilogy and the final book in the series, Full Circle. Enjoy this bit of flash fiction, a series prequel, and then be sure to check out the Rafflecopter Giveaway below, where you can enter for the chance to win two e-books from the author’s backlist.

Good luck!

An Impossible Choice

By Blaine D. Arden

Ianys sat crosslegged with his back against the slim trunk of a weeping sellin tree, balancing his sandwiches on his knees. The long hanging branches with their large purple leaves hid him from view of the village centre, though he could still see the other elves through the gaps. He’d meant to eat at the forge, like he had more often than not lately, but Master Gosse had an appointment and sent Ianys away for lunch. He could have gone home, but he didn’t want his mother to ask questions he didn’t have answers to. He was such a coward.

He stared across the centre, where Kel sat with his mentor and the guide. The sunlight brought out the red tones in Kel’s deep brown hair, which was loosely bound at the nape of his neck. A stray lock hung in his face, and Kel kept blowing it away. Ianys itched to tuck it behind his ear. Then Kel smiled at something the guide said, and Ianys could barely breathe. He seemed so relaxed and happy.

Was it any wonder Ianys couldn’t bring himself to tell Kel? He would be hurt if he knew, and Ianys couldn’t bear to see Kel in pain. The longer Ianys said nothing, lied even, the more he was going to hurt Kel. So, Ianys hid here, avoiding Kel, hoping to gather his thoughts and make a decision. He had to make a choice.

With a sigh, Ianys lowered his eyes to the grass as he ate a sandwich. Ianys normally loved cheese sandwiches, but these tasted of nothing but dust and clay. Bread crumbs scratched his throat, causing him to cough. He should have poured himself tea before crawling up here, before Kel arrived, but Naia had already been at the centre.

He glanced to where Naia watched over the young ones while their parents ate. Though she’d been talking to a friend earlier, Ianys hadn’t wanted her to know he was here. Not after telling her that he was too busy at the forge to join her for lunch.

Naia’s blond curls danced playfully in the breeze as she read a story to the children. She was good with them. With children. Ianys swallowed against the lump in his throat and closed his eyes.

That was what had gotten him in this mess. He wanted children of his own, wanted to raise a family. But Kel… Kel wasn’t as interested. Whenever Ianys raised the issue, Kel would shrug and say he didn’t mind not having any. It wasn’t a no, but it wasn’t the yes Ianys was hoping for, either. And then he met Naia…

There had been no reason for Ianys not to tell Kel about Naia. He should have done so from the start. Kel would understand if Ianys wanted to see someone besides him. Yet, soon a moon had passed without a word. Even when he realised he was seriously falling for Naia, he couldn’t bring himself to admit it to Kel.

And now? Now he had an impossible choice to make, and with every day that passed, it became harder to reach a decision.

When he started seeing Naia, he could never have thought that Naia wouldn’t like Kel, or rather, didn’t like Ianys being with Kel while also seeing her. Naia didn’t share. That’s what she’d said. And if Ianys wanted to be with Naia, he couldn’t be with Kel.

Ianys sighed and opened his eyes just in time to see Kel walk off with his mentor. Ianys stared at Kel’s lithe form, mesmerised by the way his folded wings moved with every step. He remembered the way Kel had looked when they last shared a bed, the way he kissed, the way he stretched his wings before taking flight. The way he made Ianys’ heart skip a beat when he smiled. Then he thought about seeing him every day, yet not being able to be with him, and his stomach turned. He couldn’t do it. He loved Kel.

But he loved Naia, too. She was lithe, like Kel, but unlike Kel, Naia barely reached his shoulders. He liked the way she fitted against him, and how she scrunched up her nose when she was concentrating. Ianys scanned the centre to find her still sitting with the young ones. He liked how she wanted children as much as he did.

But no matter how much he loved Naia, the thought of leaving Kel made his heart race and he couldn’t breathe.

He looked away, clenching and unclenching his fists as he tried to calm himself. If only there was a way he could hold on to both of them. If only he could convince Naia. He rose and wiped the remains of his sandwiches from his clothes. He’d talk to Naia tonight. Give it one more try. He left his hiding place and made his way back to the forge.

“Ianys?”

Caught at the last moment. Ianys turned to face Naia. He motioned towards the forge. “I was—” He stopped as Naia ran a hand across her stomach.

She smiled when she noticed him looking and repeated the motion. Then her expression turned serious. “We need to talk.”

About the Books

“I have great responsibilities, but my path ahead is as foggy and blurred as the path behind me.”

With forester Taruif freed, Kelnaht has claimed him openly at Solstice before tribe and Ma’terra as his partner, but with their third, Ianys, bound by an old promise, their triad is still incomplete. Sneaking around puts the most strain on Ianys. He and Kelnaht must keep their relationship a secret or he will lose his daughter, Atèn.

When several children fall ill with more than a summer bug, truth seeker Kelnaht is assigned once more to investigate. What he finds is deadly and threatens the life of every underage child in the tribe, including Atèn. Then a wounded traveller is found in the forest, left to die after a vicious attack.

With Taruif and his apprentice on the hunt for a cure, Kelnaht focusses on the attacks, but the clues are few and more children are infected. Nothing seems to connect until both the traveller and Atèn dream of the same grey-haired elf. Driven by fear for his daughter, Ianys pulls away from his lovers. Kelnaht can only pray Ma’terra will guide him to a solution that brings them all together and keeps Atèn safe from harm.

A Triad In Three Acts (The Complete Trilogy)

“Your Path is muddy, Kelnaht, but don’t think avoiding the puddles will make it easier to travel.”

Kelnaht, a cloud elf, is a truth seeker caught between love and faith, when a murder reveals an illicit affair between two tree elves he desires more than he can admit. Kelnaht’s former lover Ianys once betrayed him, and the shunned forester Taruif is not allowed to talk to anyone but the guide, their spiritual pathfinder.

The guide mentioned puddles, but I envisioned lakes, deep treacherous lakes, and I was drowning.

Then a stripling goes missing from the tribe, and heavy rainfall hides all traces of his whereabouts. With days creeping by without a lead, it’s hard to keep the tribe’s spirits up, more so when Kelnaht’s own future depends on the elders. Taruif has been shunned for almost twenty turns, but now that a possible forester’s apprentice is coming of age, the elders consider reducing his sentence. Taruif could be set free.

“I have great responsibilities, but my path ahead is as foggy and blurred as the path behind me.”

Later, when several children fall ill with more than a summer bug, truth seeker Kelnaht is assigned to investigate. What he finds is deadly and threatens the life of every underage child in the tribe, including Ianys’ daughter Atèn. Then a wounded traveller is found in the forest, left to die after a vicious attack.

“There is always a way.”

Kelnaht, Taruif, and Ianys are meant to be together, but old promises and the decree of the elders prevent them from claiming each other openly at Solstice. Kelnaht can investigate murder and foul play, but he can’t see how he can keep both his lovers without breaking the rules. But if he believes in the guide’s words and trusts his faith in Ma’terra, they will find a way to clear the fog and puddles from their paths.

About the Author

Blaine D. Arden is a purple-haired, forty-something author of queer romance mixed with fantasy, mystery, and magic who sings her way through life in platform boots.

Born and raised in Zutphen, the Netherlands, Blaine spent many hours of her sheltered youth reading, day dreaming, making up stories and acting them out with her Barbies. After seeing the film “An Early Frost” as a teen in the mid-eighties, an idealistic Blaine wanted to do away with the negativity surrounding homosexuality and strove to show the world how beautiful love between men could be. Our difference is our strength, is Blaine’s motto, and her stories are often set in worlds where gender fluidity and sexual diversity are accepted as is.

When not writing or reading, Blaine has singing lessons and hopes to be in a band someday. Supporting Blaine in pursuing her dreams and all matters regarding household, sons, and cairn terrier, is her long-suffering husband for over twenty years.

Blaine is an EPIC Award winning author and has been published by Storm Moon Press, Less Than Three Press, and Wilde City Press. Her scifi romance “Aliens, Smith and Jones” received an Honourable Mention in the Best Gay Sci-Fi/Fantasy category of the Rainbow Awards 2012.

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