Fallen Ruler Excerpt #1
From above the hospital bed,
with her body imbedded into the ceiling and veiled by shadows, a bald,
blue-skinned girl watched, untouched by Carla’s plight. The blue girl’s dark,
goggle-like eyelids reflected Carla’s image as she cursed those she felt were
responsible for her predicament; not even God was spared.
The hospital nurses behind the
desk across the hall continued doing their best to ignore the screaming woman.
They believed the moment of birthing to be hours away and Carla’s angry words
repulsed them. The blue girl had heard one of the nurses say such a poisonous
woman like that shouldn’t even have a womb, much less be allowed to give birth.
They had no intention of being kind to Carla.
Carla’s belly tensed and stayed
peaked. The blue girl’s lids split open to reveal concerned human-shaped purple
eyes. It was time to bring Tsaen out. She pursed her lips and blew down towards
Carla’s head.
Carla closed her eyes and
became silent. Her fingers relaxed their vice-like grip on the bed sheet.
The blue girl surfaced from
within the ceiling and dropped down. She pressed her index finger against her
navel, and just before touching the floor, she took the human form of a young
Buddhist monk.
The monk stood next to the bed
with his palms over Carla’s belly button. A glow spread throughout the swollen
mound.
Carla moaned, turned her head,
then settled back down.
The monk slid his hands across
the soft skin, until they came to rest between Carla’s legs, just in time to
support a tiny body enveloped in a pouch of green mucous. He bent over the
baby. His mouth was inches from the green pouch when he sensed someone in the
hall. He looked down and saw a shadow beneath the door, the nurse’s feet. They
were small. It was the nurse called Sumana. The doorknob twisted. The monk
realized Carla’s silence had caused concern. He placed the baby onto Carla’s
stomach and slid towards the head of the bed. He touched his forehead to
Carla’s and, using Carla’s voice, let out a loud scream, followed by a curse
word. The shadow beneath the door grew small. The nurse had stepped back but
she hadn’t left, nor had she released the doorknob. The monk screamed again.
Sumana seemed to hesitate. Her
feet changed positions.
The monk waited.
Finally Sumana released the
knob and retreated.
The monk pulled away from the
sleeping Carla and went back to the baby. He lifted the baby from Carla’s belly
and bit into the pouch, ripping off a piece of membrane with his teeth.
The loud sound of tearing
disturbed Carla. She tried to open her eyes, but only managed a blink.
The monk swallowed the piece of
membrane before ripping off another. A glistening head of thick black hair
appeared. The monk continued until the baby was free. With a swipe of his hand,
he severed the umbilical cord and carried the baby to the changing table.
Fallen Ruler Excerpt #2
A lush garden, with ancient
ficus trees, surrounded her grandmother’s cottage in the Grove. The tall trees’
cascading aerial roots had terrified Lya when she was small. At night they
turned into huge monsters with scary faces. Nee had come up with the perfect
solution to make her feel safe; she'd placed three angels with chimes in the
garden to guard the house. These angels didn’t have wings or names. They were
but blue wooden silhouettes.
Nee’s gates stood open. The
mango trees in her garden were loaded; the sweet scent of ripe fruit permeated
the driveway. There would be mango bread for tea. Her seventy-year-old
grandmother opened the door dressed in an orange Sari. Her shoulder-length gray
hair was pulled back in a ponytail, which brought out her almond-shaped
brown-green eyes.
“Abhaya.” Nee gave her a tight
hug.
Abhaya, Lya’s Indian name
meaning “fearless,” had been given to her by a nurse at the Delhi Hospital
the day she was born.
Lya kissed her grandmother’s
cheek.
Nee looked past her. “And
Utpalini, has she escaped?”
Utpalini was Andrea’s Indian
name, given to her by Nee. “More like bolted, while I dozed.”
Nee smiled. “Her loss.”
Lya felt bad about her sister’s treatment of
Nee. Andrea considered her an embarrassment, an outdated hippie who should be
put out of her misery.
The aroma of mango and dough
drifted through the house. Nee’s cottage had beautiful art pieces collected
during her travels. The Russian icon of a Madonna and Child and the bronze
Buddha sitting on his wooden pedestal were Nee’s favorites.
“I set tea in the garden with
the angels.”
Lya smiled to herself. As soon
as they stepped out, the chimes rang in welcome. Lya bowed and thanked the angels.
She still hadn’t figured out how her grandmother rang those chimes on cue.
There were no wires. Three places had been set on the old picnic table under
the golden raintree’s cascading canopy, now lined with yellow flowers. Lya sat
facing the house, knowing her grandmother liked to face the angels.
“How was the trip?”
Lya shrugged. “Ok. I didn’t
sleep much. The plane was full.”
Her grandmother poured the tea.
“And your father?”
“He caught a flight to
headquarters. He’ll be back tonight.” The company’s headquarter was in New York City.
“And your mother?”
Her mother, Carla had stayed
behind to pack up the house. Or so she said. “She arrives next week.”
“How is everyone dealing with the move?”
“Well, it varies. Mom’s upset;
she didn’t want to leave Brazil.
When Dad announced the move, she said she didn’t care where they went, since
anywhere with Dad sucked.”
Nee’s eyebrows shot up. “I
thought things had calmed down.”
“No. I think it’s gotten worse
between them. They weren’t fighting as much because they kept out of each
other’s way. Both Dad and Andrea are furious over the move. Dad thought he’d
get something like Paris after Bolivia and Brazil,
and not another underdeveloped country like India.”
Fallen Ruler Excerpt #3
The older, gray-skinned being
Lya had seen in her dream now helped her off the soft bed. She was still
disoriented. Her head felt detached from her body, like she had been on a
rollercoaster for hours. She stared open-mouthed at the weird looking bald
being, while she allowed herself to be led. Lya had a vague memory of being
lifted from the green gel by him and the younger being. The younger one wasn’t
around now. Lya’s feet touched the ground. She wasn’t dreaming. Oh, this was
bad.
Her pain had subsided somewhat.
Lya looked around the room. It reminded her of those sci-fi movies: clean and
modern, with lots of glass. Aside from the narrow, high bed, the only other
item in the room was a ten-inch panel, with rows of light running the length of
the far wall.
She turned back to study the
gray being’s face. He was ugly. He had no hair. The thick membrane around his
eyes looked like fake eyelashes. Odd, pulsating veins covered his body.
“Who are you?” Lya’s voice
sounded like a rasp. With every word she spoke her head throbbed. “Where am I?”
“In Ray.”
Lya frowned. “Is it near Delhi?”
“A few light years away. It’s a
planet, in a parallel universe.”
His words acted like an
electrical discharge, jolting Lya awake. She was hallucinating. She knew she
was. There was no other explanation. She reached out and touched the gray
being. She felt him. Okay, hallucination was real. Her mind was distorting her
vision. That sounded plausible. Don’t freak out. Lya smiled. “Is it close to
those Streams?”
“It’s beyond that.”
The smile faded from Lya’s
lips. “You’re screwing with me, right?”
“Don’t you worry, everything
will be fine.”
Lya continued to stare at the
gray… man—she guessed he was a man—as his words echoed in her brain. They
triggered an image. She saw this same being placing her into that green tank,
saying those very same words. Or not her... Lya. Although it felt like her, and
somehow she knew it was her, but it was really the albino. The albino didn’t
want to leave. She hesitated, grabbing onto the tank’s edges, and asked what it
would be like? Would she ever come back? She turned to the older gray being and
said, “Natuc, will you bring me back?”
“Natuc?” Lya whispered.
The gray being smiled. “You
remembered. Good. Keep alert for those sudden burst of images, that’s how you
will get your memory back.”
“My memory?” Lya searched
Natuc’s face. “Please tell me this is all a mistake. A punishment for…” Lya
couldn’t think of something she should be punished for, she hadn’t done
anything all that bad to deserve being locked up in… what was this place?
“Calm down. You’re not
hallucinating, Tsaen.”
“Who?”
“Tsaen.”
“Tsaen? The albino, Tsaen? I’m
not Tsaen.” Lya bit down on her lower lip. “I’m not Tsaen….”
Of course I called my husband and cried happy tears some more. That
night when I got into Anaheim, all of my closest writing friends came up
to my room and we celebrated. It was AWESOME!
About the Author: New
York Times and USA Today bestselling author Bella Andre has always been
a writer. Songs came first, and then non-fiction books, but as soon as
she started writing her first romance novel, she knew she’d found her
perfect career. Known for “sensual, empowered stories enveloped in heady
romance” (Publishers Weekly) about sizzling alpha heroes and the strong
women they’ll love forever, nearly all of her novels have appeared on
Top 10 lists at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple and Kobo.
Please
enjoy this interview with Bella Andre, New York Times and USA Today
best-selling author of the contemporary romance series, The Sullivans. Then
read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour,
including special romantic swag baskets for each book, an iPad Mini,
Kindle Fire, Nook Color, and Kobo eReader, and Amazon and iTunes gift
cards!