#Virago Excerpt: Childish giggles and excited squealing come from the outside of the exit. “Ah, here you are,” Kenna exclaims coolly. “Keeping company as you wait for me, have you?” Two boys, no more than five or six years old, jostle about, watching another boy tumble playfully with a large, pointy-eared dog. The animal lies on top of the kid and licks his face incessantly. “You win, you win, Caliburn. I admit defeat,” he guffaws, squirming ticklishly. The grayish dog eases on him, letting the boy push his furry pelt off him. As they all get to their feet, they turn around to see they are no longer alone. “Shouldn’t you be in the market, helping your father, Thayer? And you two, you should be in the fields, plowing with your sister,” she admonishes. Her harsh tone isn’t genuine, but they don’t know that. They’re too focused on the fact they got caught skipping out on their chores. “We’re sorry, Kenna,” says one of the jostlers nervously. “We just wanted to play with him. He is so lonesome out here. Antidu won’t allow Caliburn to come inside the village.” “Be that as it may, you cannot shirk your duties, boy. Now off with you before I decide to find both your sires and report what you have been up to.” “Yes, Priestess,” they respond in unison. They skedaddle without another word, abandoning their four-legged friend with us. Or I should say abandoning us with a beast. From its gangly legs to the long narrow muzzle, every feature of this animal screams wild. The long ears perked and alert. The thick mane smoothed along his neck to his wideset cheeks. The streamlined body built for speed and pursuit. The straightly fluffed tail dipped with black under the gray. The white paws comparatively the size of my own hands. Those sharply yellow eyes calmly gazing at me. “That’s not a dog.” This one is nothing like the dogs I’ve seen in the fortress. “Of course not. Caliburn is a wolf." #newrelease #debutnovel #romanbritain #viragonovel #historicalfiction #fiction (at Tickenham) https://www.instagram.com/p/CRyYABTsVCl/?utm_medium=tumblr
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