He gains a reputation among the court as a “fop” who seeks fame and glory while striving to avoid the hardships of military life. Once there this young man, schooled in his letters and old Roman learning (and accustomed to life’s finer things), finds himself encamped on the fringe of civilization with a king whose retainers seem little more than the brigands and cutthroats they hunt. To say he is a fish out of water is generous. To cement an alliance with a kingdom in Britain, his family sent him across hostile Frank kingdoms in Gaul to the court of High King Mattheus who rules in Wales. He is from a region of Southern France that retained its Roman-ness despite the collapse of the western Empire. Ruling the land he once devastated, how can he keep the secret of who he really is? Possessed by a demon that tempts him back into his old ways, how long can he resist the lure? Dahoud fights to protect his people from war’s violence – but how can he shield the woman he loves from the evil inside him?ĭahoud’s juicy fantasy: a strong woman wrestles him and wins, so he can submit.Īldonzo, Prince of Languedoc, is our favorite quirky character in Annwyn’s Blood. He seeks to atone for the terrible deeds he committed as a siege commander, and to build a new life of humility and peace. Elijah’s Chariot: ĭahoud is a troubled hero with a dark past. But don’t get too near that smell he’s given off since then. He doesn’t only preach resurrection, he’s experienced it, and still has the bullet-hole in his head to prove it. Olisha, in my novel Sinister Presence, is a memory vampire, she is a memory junkie. Now he lives in another witch’s house and is learning how to live like a cat. In a fit of revenge, she changed Randolph into a cat and he barely escaped from becoming her slave familiar. When his mentally unstable wife found that out, she turned to black magic and became even more unstable. Except that the ladies he preferred to date were the inmates in the women’s prison where he worked as a correctional officer. Character: Randolph Hammerschmidt was a ladies’ man.

Storm Dancer by Rayne Hall