Today I am so pleased to welcome M.D. Grimm to Joyfully Jay. M.D. has come to talk to us about her series, The Stones of Power. She has also brought along a great tour wide giveaway. Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

Excerpt

“Morgorth, I would like to introduce you to Elissya, my new apprentice.”

I eyed the petite girl and didn’t bother hiding my resentment. She raised an eyebrow as I glowered.

“I will be teaching both of you,” Master Ulezander continued, narrowing his eyes at me in warning. “Although I don’t insist you become friends, I expect you to be polite and respectful towards each other.”

Tell herthat.

She was already judging me, already staring at me like I was a critter that had just crawled out from under a rock, needing sunlight. I didn’t like her delicate face or bright eyes or bushy red hair. I didn’t like her colorful dress or the way she kept glancing at mymentor, smiling shyly.

I scowled.

If I wasn’t careful she’d steal Master Ulezander away from me. And then what would become of me? The Hand would return to finish me off. I wasn’t powerful enough to defend myself.

Wench.

“Elissya, why don’t you let Kaj show you where your room will be? Settle in and relax. Supper will be in a few hours.”

“Thank you, Master.” She curtsied before grabbing her bag.

Kaj smiled at her and set a hand on her back, guiding her up the stairs. As soon as they were out of sight, Master Ulezander sent me a sharp look. I studied one of the enormous tapestries on his wall, my hands curled into fists.

“Elissya only recently discovered her magick. She is a year younger than you, and you know more than she does about magickal usage. I expect you to help her.”

“Me?” I turned my glare on him. “You’rethe master. You’rethe one who decided to replace me.”

Master Ulezander frowned. “I said no such thing. Nor do I have any intention of letting you leave my tutelage until you are ready.”

Not believing him for a second, I turned away and crossed my arms over my chest. My hands burned and magick zinged inside my core. Bastard. Either he was lying or he did intend to keep me, but he clearly favored the girl. Why wouldn’t he? She was everything I wasn’t, which said enough.

“Morgorth,” he said. “We’ve talked about your negativity and your propensity for jumping to the wrong conclusions. I have every intention of training you both equally and without favoritism. You need to trust me.”

I swallowed hard. I forced my shoulders down from their hunched position and took several deep breaths. I nodded.

“You need to look at me and say it.”

Cursing him mentally, I turned and faced him. I met his eyes and lowered my arms.

“I trust you.”

He nodded once, curtly. “Good. Now get cleaned up for supper.”

Stifling a scowl, I turned and left.

The next week was strange and I didn’t like it. At least Elissya kept her distance from me. I caught her staring at me several times with a puzzled expression, as if I was a complicated spell she needed to take apart and put back together. I didn’t know what to do so I scowled at her. She started rolling her eyes in response, and I didn’t know what to do about that either.

“Time for a history lesson,” Master Ulezander said one day at breakfast.

Both Elissya and I shared heartfelt groans of dread. She caught my eye and winked. I frowned before turning my attention back to Master Ulezander.

“What are we going to learn this time?” I asked. “The exciting adventures of the mages who built the White Tower? Or perhaps the minutes from the first law meetings?”

Elissya, about to take a drink from her goblet, snorted into her milk before covering her wet face with a napkin.

Our mentor was not amused. He sat at the head of the long table with Elissya on his left and me on his right. He set down his fork and gave us both a reproving look. Although we bowed our heads I knew Elissya was struggling against laughter.

“It would seem neither of you appreciate the history of our people. Perhaps I should skip over the histories of Nanthar and Kierthak. Who wants to learn about the only other seventh sons of seventh sons ever born?”

I snapped my head up, eyes wide. My heart skipped a beat and I gripped the edge of the table. Master Ulezander glanced at me and his expression softened.

“Clean up the table and meet me in the study.”

He barely finished speaking before I was on my feet, stacking plates and goblets, tossing used napkins onto the pile. Elissya fell behind as I darted to the kitchens and set the plates on the counter for Kaj to wash.

“Morgorth!” Elissya caught my arm when I tried to push past her.

My heart drummed in my chest and I felt a little loopy as I focused on her.

“What? What do you want?

She frowned. “I want to be your friend, you idiot. And you look kinda ill. Are you all right?”

My friend? She wanted to be my friend? Weird. I pulled my arm out of her grip and frowned.

“I don’t want friends.”

“Why?”

“I don’t need them.”

“Everyone should have friends.”

I shook my head and left the kitchen, hurrying to the study. I fidgeted in my seat, books towering over me, stacked in organized shelves against every wall. I knew there’d been other seventh sons of seventh sons in the past but I didn’t know any details about either of them. After an eternity of waiting, Master Ulezander and Elissya arrived and he began the lesson. I scooted to the edge of my seat, absorbing everything he said.

Nanthar enslaved thousands of minds and Kierthak went insane, killing everyone he could. Their power was awful and terrifying and I wanted it. I thirsted for it. Flashes of the Hand coming to kill me hardened my resolve to be the most powerful mage alive.

“Nanthar and Kierthak were devoured by their power,” Master Ulezander said. “Their obsession with it and their need for control destroyed them. They had too much power and they let it rule them and their actions.”

“Like when a mage falls into the Mage’s Fury?” Elissya asked.

Her voice jerked me out of images of world domination. I glanced at her, irritated with her interruption.

“Far more sinister,” Master Ulezander said. He stared at me, and I avoided his gaze.

Elissya didn’t know about my identity or my destiny. I wanted to keep it that way. I frowned. Why didn’t I want her to know? Why wasn’t I boasting about it? Sure, I wasn’t at my full strength, but I was definitely stronger than her.

The answer hit me hard in the face: I didn’t want her to be afraid of me.

She wasn’t as horrible as I’d expected her to be.

“Nanthar was arrogant and felt that the world owed him,” Master Ulezander continued. “He thought he could do better than the Mother and decided that taking control of as many minds as he could, would help him achieve his goal. His war with the others of the council not under his control was the reason for the southern continent’s destruction. Many decades passed before it was livable again. It was because of him that the council took precautions with any other large seela families. Despite their efforts, Kierthak was born and his rampage of madness lost many their lives. In the end he killed himself, using all his magick to send out a death cyrse. He sent it to his own family, causing them to only have daughters, not sons. His family name was lost to history, as was Nanthar’s. Their origins were erased from history.”

“So they were destined to become monsters,” I said. Just like me.

He eyed me. “No.”

I sat back.

“They had choices, Morgorth. We allhave choices. Think of all the good they could have done if they’d turned their minds to creating instead of destroying. If they wanted to free instead of enslave. The Mother does not write our destinies in stone. She sets us on a path and no one knows for sure what that will be. Those who claim to know are arrogant children.”

I knew he was talking directly to me. I turned away. Elissya studied both of us, her eyes calculating. She was smarter than I’d given her credit for.

I was the third seventh son of a seventh son. Life was about patterns, wasn’t it? That meant I would follow in Nanthar and Kierthak’s footsteps. I would destroy. Enslave. The idea didn’t bother me. I liked it. No one would hurt me again. I wouldn’t be afraid ever again. With power came safety.

And why shouldn’t I get a little of my own back? Causing pain had a delicious thrill to it.

I glanced at Elissya. No. Not her. Someone else. Someone more deserving.

It’s what those in power did, of course. The strong always dominated the weak. My father had taught me that.

Master Ulezander spoke of other things. I wasn’t listening anymore. I was imagining what a life without fear would be like. A life without pain. I held fast to the dream and knew I would make it a reality. I just needed to be patient.

Like Nanthar.

Blurb

SERIES BLURB:

Lord Morgorth is a dark mage on the planet Karishian. His peers consider him a villain, but there is more to him than they choose to understand. Cursed by a dark destiny and tormented by painful memories of the past, Morgorth struggles to find his place in the world. Far from innocent, Morgorth has teetered between embracing his destiny and fighting against it his entire life. A decision that is made easier when Aishe comes into his life.

Aishe is a creature of the forest, a warrior and healer. He has the moral compass that Morgorth needs, and Morgorth gives Aishe the companionship he craves. Together, they forge ahead, weathering the storms and fighting the enemies fate puts into their paths.

However, their greatest enemy is not a living being, but gemstones infused with deadly power. They are addictive, seductive, and completely treacherous. Morgorth hates them and is determined to find and imprison all of them.

But he soon realizes they are keys to a greater power. He learns his destiny is not all he thought it was. And an even greater enemy stirs in the darkness.

Enter the world of “The Stones of Power.”

• Book 1 – Ruby: Lost and Found
• Book 2 – Peridot: War and Peace
• Book 3 – Amethyst: Bow and Arrow
• Book 4 – Agate – Then and Now
• Book 5 – Emerald: Good and Evil
• Book 6 – Carnelian: Dreams and Visions
• Book 7 – Lapis Lazuli: Forgotten and Remembered

Buy Links:

• Amazon
• Smashwords

Bio

M.D. Grimm has wanted to write stories since second grade (kind of young to make life decisions, but whatever) and nothing has changed since then (well, plenty of things actually, but not that!). Thankfully, she has indulgent parents who let her dream, but also made sure she understood she’d need a steady job to pay the bills (they never let her forget it!).

After graduating from the University of Oregon and majoring in English, (let’s be honest: useless degree, what else was she going to do with it?) she started on her writing career and couldn’t be happier.

Working by day and writing by night (or any spare time she can carve out), she enjoys embarking on romantic quests and daring adventures (living vicariously, you could say) and creating characters that always triumph against the villain, (or else what’s the point?) finding their soul mate in the process.

• Author Website: https://www.mdgrimmwrites.com/the-stones-of-power-series
• Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001710645622
• Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=md+grimm
• Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/m-d-grimm/
• Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/M.D.-Grimm/e/B00I0KZMY6/

Giveaway

M.D. has brought a $20 Amazon to give away to one lucky reader on her tour. Just follow the Rafflecopter below to enter.

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