Welcome to the fantastical side of romance with magic and myth, ,
Haven't read Taking Medusa, you can dive into Fated Mates, Slow-burn Romance, Fantasy Adventure with myths, legends, and sexy gods with book one in Kindle Unlimited! Has over 70 reviews on Goodreads with a 4.5 star average! https://books.steviemarie.com/takingmedusa (Breaking Fate can be read without reading this, but there are spoilers in book two for book one, so STOP Now and head over to reading Taking Medusa in Kindle Unlimited, or SCROLL past to not see spoilers as you check out some Indie Features.
And check out today's indie features:
NEW INDIE RELEASE! I was born to be their redemption, instead I will become their destruction. Check out Vicious is My Throne
NEW INDIE RELEASE! Heir to a fae throne she didn't know was hers. A marine biologist's life is upended when her mother is murdered, and the assassins are after her next as the next Queen of Atlantis. Check out The Veiled Heir by S.T. Fernandez!
A unicorn walked into a bar... check out Pure by Kim Alexander
Chapter Two: GateKeeper
(Missed Chapter One? Read Here: https://steviemarie.com/book-updates/breaking-fate-read-along/)
The River Styx was too wide to see the other side that you'd think it was an ocean, disappearing into a mist-filled fog. It was so long that the vanishing point seemed never-ending, and even if it did end, I was certain it wasn't something many knew existed. The only direction I got was that following the river would lead me to Cerberus. What I didn't realize at the time was how long following this river would take. Was this just some sick joke to him? Follow the never-ending river.
A tingle lifted through my arms, prickling my skin with an awareness that I wasn't alone. I stopped my brooding and found my feet nearing closer to the river to see what was grabbing my attention. The water sparkled like it swallowed the very stars. Transfixed, I found myself taking another step closer before I heard an echoing hiss that thundered in my chest, reverberating to my bones. The snakes from my hair either returned as a warning that I had no control over, or I was losing my mind.
Tearing my gaze from the river, I dropped down to hide because I didn't trust anything Hades said about being invisible. Did he mean I was invisible to anyone in the Underworld? Or perhaps, only hidden until I brought attention to myself? He did say I could interact with people from the Underworld, so maybe I wasn't invisible to them at all? I followed the noise to what appeared to be a cave on a mountain that I hadn't noticed was there seconds before. It was like I blinked and what was a desert turned into a mountain, and up ahead a mirage of a cave came into view. Being in the Underworld was disorientating to say the least. Hades did say something about meeting Cerberus in a cave along the river. This could be it.
The loud wheezing came again, and I clutched at my chest to ease the ache growing there. From the cave, I watched as a three-headed, giant snake emerged with the body of a black-furred lion, backing out with its snake tail staring at me. The end of it hissed, but it was unmistakable that it saw me. Its beady golden eyes were unmoving from where I crouched. A strand of my blonde hair fell in my face. No, not hair… a snake. Fuck, were they talking to each other? So much for being hidden. Out of all the beings to run into that weren't affected by the invisibility of the crown attached to my arm, it had to be a giant, hydra-snake monster backing out of a cave.
Its black, suede hindlegs were moving backwards, towards me. A flash of light seared across the sand. My arm went up to block the intense white blast that heated the hairs on my knuckles, even making the snakes in my hair tug back on my scalp in withdrawal. When my vision cleared, I saw spots and through the haze the large beast was writhing on the ground, fangs bared through each large, black-scaled snake's head.
"I did give you a choice, Rucyr. Just tell me where she's hiding. I have no intention of killing my brother's mate. He may not listen to me, but I only want to give them both a proper union and a place at my side," a silky voice commanded through the angry hissing of a currently subdued three-headed snake.
"I wasn't born yesterday, Zeus. I've been guarding the Underworld since the first dead escaped Tartarus, and my parents gifted me to Hades. Everything you say can be the truth for a different situation and manipulated for your benefit. You're purposefully vague. Which brother? Poseidon or Hades? Who were the both in this scenario? Are you referring to your brother's union with whoever you deem fit, or who we know we're talking about? A place at your side in chains? Or a place of honor? Need I go on?" The snake called Rucyr hissed out lazily afterward. The king of gods? That was Zeus? A man stood to the side of the massive snake, barely as tall as one of the large snake heads lying on the ground. One snap of that mouth and it could eat Zeus whole. His hair was brown with soft curls, not white like most of myth's depictions, and his beard was well groomed. He was wearing a fashionable V-neck sweater over a buttoned collared shirt, with the top button undone, like he came straight from a men's magazine.
"You wound me," Zeus feigned heartbreak. "I may be a selfish bastard, but I do care about my brothers. Both of them," he added absently while plucking non-existent lint from his cuff.
"I don't doubt that, but that doesn't magically produce a vote of confidence for you," the snake quipped back while resting a head on top of the one lying on the ground before him. Two heads now stared at Zeus, but my eyes were still on the tail with its golden eyes on me. Did it know I was here, or was I just being paranoid… we were still in the Underworld and the power of the invisibility was supposed to be absolute here. Zeus certainly hadn't noticed me.
"Must we go through this every time? You know I can't enter without my brother's permission, and Hermes is off doing some errand for Athena—"
Rucyr cut him off, "You're here because you don't want Hera to find out what you're doing. Why would I trust anything you say since you stole my niece?"
I had stumbled upon a conversation that I was out of my depth for. Who was his niece? Was she still missing?
Zeus scoffed at the implication. "Believe what you will. I've been trying to get a divorce for ages, and I have no intentions of having my future wife be queen, but yes, you're right, Hera doesn't see it that way. She thinks any future mate of mine would try to take her place like she did with my last wife, and the one before that." He stopped and put a hand to his chin in thought. "I haven't really thought about that in a while, but can you blame me for wanting to have a relationship that isn't sabotaged by that vindictive bitch?"
The snake had a strange rumble from his chest that, if I wasn't mistaken, was a laugh. Was he mocking the king of the gods?
"You can work out your marriage issues with a counselor. Even if that's the truth, it doesn't make me want to help you, and I won't be giving you any accidental invitation into the Underworld. Stealing a mate based on the old laws only works if you have permission from their parents," he explained, but why would he need to if Zeus already knew? Was the snake doing that for me, knowing that I was listening? "As you already know, her mother would never agree to it, and you may never return from trying to find her father."
Zeus laughed, a deep and throaty sound that echoed through the cave. "A guardian's permission and bringing her to my home is all that is required."
"A guardian…" his voice trailed off as a few of his snake's heads recoiled with a new realization. Even I held my breath with wide eyes at what Zeus had just admitted.
"Anyone who has claim to her may bless my intentions," Zeus explained.
"That's what you wanted with my niece, you sick bastard," Rucyr hissed out, cursing under his breath. "Hera will find out."
"So, what if she does? Hera is bound to sanctify any legitimate union under the old laws."
"But you're married…" he said what I was thinking, thankfully. I really wished he had used a name instead of calling her niece, and another haunting suspicion made me think he was doing it on purpose, so I didn't know who he was talking about but Zeus sure did. It was driving me nuts being an observer instead of asking the burning questions I had brewing inside. I knew just enough to know this was a conversation that was altering my life with every continued breath, but the darkness of uncertainty and unanswered questions kept be blinded and paralyzed.
"By what right? The moment she tried to take my throne by force, she had by all accounts returned her marriage to whence it came. She hasn't been my wife since that day. Queen of Olympus, sure… My wife; I do not reclaim her, and she knows this. It was my love for her that she is still alive. I owe her nothing else, and I've waited long enough to be matched once more, and with your permission, I will have just that."
"Mine?" Rucyr balked.
Zeus clucked his tongue like he was schooling a disobedient child.
"You didn't just come here to steal her…" He surmised with a shake of his head and his shoulders slumped in defeat.
"I came for you, Cerberus."
Add to your Goodreads shelf: Breaking Fate (Dark Gods Rising, #2) by S.M. McCoy | Goodreads
Pre-order on Breaking Fate on Amazon: https://books.steviemarie.com/breakingfate
Read the award winning Romantasy Taking Medusa and how we got to this point: https://books.steviemarie.com/takingmedusa
Join the ARC TEAM to help launch the book! https://forms.gle/zHWK1kSkSMXUy44g8
(This chapter has not been edited, find an error? I love it when people reply back to help make the book better, feel free to point them out and I'll have it fixed for ARC readers coming soon!)
Stay tuned next week for chapter two!
Read Taking Medusa today in Kindle Unlimited: https://books.steviemarie.com/takingmedusa
Support more book by S.M. McCoy by pre-ordering Breaking Fate: https://books.steviemarie.com/breakingfate
Or joining the ARC team: https://forms.gle/HmLDnnsUCeGWbEGV7
Also by me: Do you like Alien Romances? Check out my Pen Name Sky Robert!
Together with fellow indie sci-fi fantasy authors we've pooled together to offer this awesome Firefly Fan giveaway. Why? Because we write books with these kinds of feels, and if you like Firefly then you'll probably find a new favorite author among the bunch! The space adventure, the political intrigue, and even the romance! Firefly had it all, and you may not think of the comparison, but my alien romances have these same kinds of feels, the fast paced interstellar adventures with plots to unravel and romance that doesn't close the door when it gets spicy. Check out my Sky Robert's Alien Romances available in Kindle Unlimited. All are standalone complete romances where you can start from any book, but the more books you read, the more you unravel about the universe and how all of our couples fight together to save it! Sky Robert Books:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0BNXSFHZ4/allbooks
Author Updates/Writing Progress!
Breaking Fate Progress! 82K / 90,000 word goal (90% completed)
I've finally pushed through a writing block in this story and surged forward in my goal. We're so close to a completed first draft!
Book Stats: Breaking Fate currently has 19 preorders on Amazon, and 1 pre-order from my author store! The total cost of launching Breaking Fate is currently at $1080 (including 450 set aside for editing costs after I'm done writing.) and around $40 in preorders, makes us at 3.7% of launch costs covered. Goal of 225 preorders by October to cover editing costs, or I will have to rely on the ARC team and volunteer typo-killers to reduce launch costs.
If you would like to help support future books, and this series, you can preorder Breaking Fate on Amazon here: https://books.steviemarie.com/breakingfate
Or grab the pre-order from my Author Store here: https://payhip.com/b/CDfku
Want to read my books for freesies? Join the ARC TEAM!
https://forms.gle/zcXKjfRiEhsUhh5z5
(This form is for people who are not already part of the ARC team, if you were part of Taking Medusa's ARC team, there is no need to reapply, search your emails for "ACTION REQUIRED" and find the ARC opt-in and simply reply "YES" to that email to join the current team. My goal is to have my ARC completed by end of JUNE.)
The best thing about meeting and connecting with this team of book heroes is that this team is who I can rely on to help boost my author morale and keep me motivated to push through imposter syndrome. ARC team readers really are Book Heroes! Thank you for being part of my team!
If you haven't checked out book one, this is a series, these are not standalones, and I highly recommend reading Taking Medusa first, even though I do write my books to be easily read regardless of having read a previous book, there are plot reveals and spoilers if you start with book 2 instead of reading book 1 first.
Convincing you to read Taking Medusa:
Mermaids! Medusa is kidnapped to Atlantis for killing the last daughter of King Triton with her poisonous blood. To be fair.. she was trying to kill her first, and she has no idea how she survived it. She has no memory of being Medusa at all!
This is modern day and she believes that she's a normal mortal after her sister (a gorgon) stole her stone body from the watery depths and reunited her head after stealing it from Athena's shield, conveniently left in a museum instead of guarded by gods.
Enter DION! An Atlantis sentinel, who has some strange connection to her, and TRITON, who is apparently a glutton for falling for nymphs and collecting brides that don't survive long past their marriage vows.
There are mysteries, and romance, and adventure as Medusa (Aless) is lured back into the chaos and schemes of the gods. She's destined to protect them all, but fate has a funny way of trying to repeat itself. Can she keep her head this time around or will she sacrifice herself all over again?
This is a slow-burn romance fantasy adventure, so there is no clapping the cloisters, tickling the tentacles, or fishing for fins in book one, but this is a fated mates romance that will keep you turning the pages, and twisting your expectations of myth and legend. <3 Read Taking Medusa in KU!
https://books.steviemarie.com/takingmedusa
Already read Taking Medusa? Did you know Breaking Fate is available for preorder.... I'll just leave this here... (sparkles) https://books.steviemarie.com/breakingfate
Want to help me reach my next author goal of connecting with book heroes? Read my books for freesies and join my ARC TEAM! https://forms.gle/zcXKjfRiEhsUhh5z5
Chat soon!
xoxo
Stevie
Getting too much email? Reply back to this email with "Monthly" in the message and I'll move you over to my once a month letter usually sent out around the 15th of the month.
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