Petre searched for the perfect woman to break his immortal curse.
Sold to Petre in Arcadia, Korrigan stumbled through her journey of love, treachery, and forgiveness. Secrets and lies whispered in the dark recesses of her mind as her past haunted her dreams.
What if all her master taught her proved to be wrong? As the weight of her new world compounded on her shoulders, slave and master hatched a plan to liberate the brothel and tear down the walls.
Title: Constricted (Beyond the Brothel Walls Saga #1)
Author: Rae Z. Ryans
Genres: Dystopia, Paranormal, Romance, Steampunk
Publisher: Fictitious Publishing
Publication Date: June 1, 2014
"Pardon, but do you mind if I sit with you?" His hand motioned towards the open bench opposite of me. "The train is rather full," he added with the arc of his black brow.
“Sure.” My gaze did not falter. Saying no, was not an option.
Instead, I further studied him from the glass reflection. This man existed far
above my low station by more than class level. Even if he appeared my age,
there were not any signs of a harsh life on his angular face. A curious scar
etched into his cheek though, and I bet the disfigurement had made for a
fascinating story.
“You don’t sound terribly sure, miss…”
“Charlotte,” I lied. My real name stood as another reminder
of my former life with Jules. Korrigan, the Goddess of Prostitution, and a
sacrifice to her included paid sexual acts. He’d reminded me every chance and
never allowed me to shorten the terrible name. I crossed my legs and folded my
hands over my knee. Maybe my new master would permit a nickname.
In his reflection, I watched as the stranger’s dark eyebrow
rose. His eyes no longer reflected as black, but they appeared … wrong, like
they’d held too much emotion for someone as young. “You don’t look like a
Charlotte.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep my eyes from rolling.
Whoever looked like their name? Who could say they looked like this name or
that name. I shrugged instead and stared out the window. The whistle blew
again, and the engine’s hiss soothed me. The stranger made a tsking sound as he
leaned forward, and glanced out of the window. More flames licked at houses and
trees.
“The fires are a real shame.”
After the oil had vanished –burned or pumped dry- humanity
fell further into turmoil. The nuclear drought followed, caused by the
shortages, and the sundered earthquakes swallowed the states one by one. Those
earthquakes destroyed the majority of the eastern coalmines too. I’d watched on
as the world around me collapsed. Trucks, cars, boats, and planes stopped
across the country for years. Delphia – as they had called the former United
States now - fell the hardest when the earthquakes had hit. Dams fractured
knocking out hydropower. Food grew scarce when farmers could not operate
equipment or transport goods. Riots started, and people looted, stealing and
taking from their friends and neighbors. The news replayed the stories to this
day.
The other continents fell, swallowed by the oceans, or
starved out of existence in the blink of a few short years. The Southern
Americas and parts of Canada had survived, albeit torn asunder into a series of
islands connected by bridges and tunnels. Even twelve years later, fires still
blazed and pillowed their thick, black smoke into the polluted sky. There
existed no heaven, no hell, but this odd sense of limbo as progress continued
to falter around the remaining world.
She is currently working on Beyond the Brothel Walls #2: Altered. This post-apocalyptic, erotic paranormal romance is an emotionally driven, dark fantasy.
No comments:
Post a Comment