Excerpt & Giveaway: Soothsayer by Cari Z.

We’re so pleased to welcome author Cari Z. today, on the tour for her latest release from NineStar Press, Soothsayer. We’ve got a teaser excerpt from the book to share, and there’s also a chance to win an e-book of choice from NineStar, so be sure to check out the giveaway details below.

Welcome, Cari!

About the Book

Title: Soothsayer
Author: Cari Z.
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: January 30
Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 68k words
Genre: Romance, Action, urban fantasy, magic, magic user, psychic/soothsayer, myth/folklore, mafia, reunited, road trip, spirits, possession
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Buy Links: NineStar Press || Amazon || B&N || Kobo || Smashwords
Blurb: Cillian Kelly can look into people’s eyes and see their fates. He’s running from a past filled with mistakes, lying low and selling his services on the sly. When he learns that Sören Egilsson, a man who sacrificed himself so Cillian could escape imprisonment two years ago, is somehow still alive, Cillian has to find out how. What he gets is the body of the man he loves possessed by an ancient spirit who draws Cillian into a battle to the death for the right to control Sören’s fate, and the power that comes with it.

The Excerpt

Sören Has To Give His Side Of The Sex Talk

When Sören offered himself to the landvættir, he’d been promised oblivion. Something deeper and more restful than sleep, so he wouldn’t dream and he wouldn’t remember and he wouldn’t have a chance to wish for things that would never be his. He missed Cillian like a limb, a vital organ—it felt like every minute he spent without him, remembering the sounds of his joy and the quiet, tooth-gritting cries of his pain, was just another minute of torture. If anyone deserved to be given to the spirit as a sacrifice, it was Sören, who had known what they were doing was wrong and gone along with it anyway. He’d actually looked forward to the blackness of total unconsciousness.

It hadn’t quite worked out that way. The cold was always there, a part of the landvættir and so a part of him, chilling him down to the bone. It nipped at the corners of his mind sometimes, pulling him toward consciousness, and took a lot of soothing to quell. The lullabies helped, the sense that he wasn’t alone and was cared for. They gave Sören a sense of wholeness, and staved off the worst of the icy embrace.

When things changed, they changed fast. All of a sudden there was movement, and the cold felt deeper than ever but Sören could almost see things happening. And Cillian was there—which was the worst thing, why the hell had he come back? Didn’t he know Sören was doing this for him as well as his family? Did he want his sacrifice to be for nothing?

Then the conversations started, and those were…odd.

What is desire? the spirit asked him one night, as their body lay beside Cillian in a hard motel bed.

If Sören could have raised his eyebrows, he would have. “Why do you want to know?”

I want to know how to engender it in your lover. If he loves me through you, then we will bind him more closely to us. The harder he fights, the sweeter our ultimate victory will be.

“You can’t just make him love you.”

I would settle for wanting, then.

“You can’t make him do that either. Love and desire in humans is complicated. There has to be an emotional connection between you and him.”

I offer him physical satisfaction. Why isn’t that enough?

“It is for some people. Not for Cillian, though. Especially not while you’re in my body.”

But your body is a commodity that he should desire, if he has feelings for you. Why not take the chance to enjoy it?

“Because he wouldn’t think it was right. And please don’t call my body a commodity, that’s just weird.”

Hmm. Your kind’s mating rituals are overly complex.

“I don’t disagree, but they are what they are.”

Then I will have to find another way to appeal to him. Sören felt like he was being wrapped in a cool embrace. How would you like to speak with him?

The pitiful way his heart leapt was all the answer the spirit needed.

About the Author

Cari Z. is a Colorado girl who loves snow and sunshine. She writes award-winning LGBTQ fiction featuring aliens, supervillains, soothsayers, and even normal people sometimes.

Author Links: Website || Facebook || Twitter || Goodreads || Blog