House of Ruin by Miriam Newman 💕 Fun Facts, Book Tour & Gift Card Giveaway 💕 (SciFi Romance)

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When the beleaguered citizens of the capitol city of Thelona are swept by plague in the absence of their ruling class, which has fled it en masse, desperation finally pushes them to take to the streets. With their city burning, the Lords of Thelona have no choice but to shoulder the burden of responsibility. In the absence of their Highest, they turn to Caius, Scion of the House of Bardin. He has unwittingly placed himself in the path of his ruler’s ambitions and also endangered his human slave, Lela.

I’m not sure how much “fun” it was, but the truth is that this book was written as a long-awaited sequel to “Scion: Book I: House of Bardin.”

That one was written several years ago and got some really good reviews. Apparently, though, I should have done that little thing called writing “The End.” Oops. Readers got a little ticked off thinking there was going to be another page when there wasn’t. What I had felt was a good ending wasn’t a good ending for them!

Apparently you can stop an author faster than a speeding bullet this way, or at least this author. I got intimidated about writing a sequel and when that happens my Muse goes somewhere else. I have never quite figured out where. Her name is Persephone, otherwise usually given to the Queen of Hell, so I guess that could be a clue—well, that and the molten lava dripping from her blood-red nails.

Anyway, Seph got in a snit and I didn’t hear from her again about that book for a very long time. She finally forgave me. I now present to you not only “Scion: Book II: House of Destruction,” but within a short time you will be seeing “Scion: Book III: House of the 12th Planet.” Book I is still available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Book III really is The End. LOL. I hope you enjoy it.

Lela hoped for a peaceful day next day, since many of their guests had departed, but at mid-morning she heard Gracchu’s mutter from the front doorway. “Well, here comes trouble.”

The women were once more scrubbing down the sooty entryway that seemed like it would never be clean. One by one, though, they stood to crane their necks and peer out the door. It was so unusual for Gracchu to comment upon any visitor that she and the others feared some catastrophe, but the tears Lela felt start in her eyes were those of mirth and she looked at Dinitra helplessly. The dignified housekeeper was red in the face and took a moment to collect herself.

“Oh, go on then,” Dinitra said, giving their mountainous house guard an ineffectual shove. “Go help her!”

Shooting her an evil look, Gracchu stomped ungraciously down the circular drive and through Caius’s iron gate towards which an apparition struggled

Vena had not lost a single pound since Lela had seen her before Solstice. If anything, the dressmaker had increased in girth, and the sight of her unequal battle with gravity as she hauled herself up Camini Hill threw the watching women into gales of laughter. If they had not known her vanity, they would have had more sympathy.

But Vena, who had just survived conflagration, was gowned in a vast expanse of priceless silver brocade. The jewels encasing rolls of fat at her neck should have guaranteed her death; how she had made it through the citizenry alive was a question no one would ever be able to answer. Her towering mountain of jet-dyed hair was seriously askew, but it too was threaded with real silver. Teetering on heeled footwear, she could not have outrun anyone. Lela suspected sheer bravado and the stunned disbelief of onlookers had preserved her dressmaker’s life. Probably by the time footpads had stopped speculating on whether her jewels could possibly be real Vena had tottered past them and down some bolt hole known only to her.

“Bring wine,” Dinitra instructed one of the young slave girls. “Plenty.”

After eight years as a rebellious sex slave on the planet Thelona, Lela is weary and jaded. When she is purchased in the public square by a bored aristocrat, she only hopes he will tire of her and let her go to work in his kitchens. Caius, forced into the lifestyle of the idle rich by his return to Thelona after eight years in the Mercenary Corps, thinks he has only bought a night's pleasure. Two restless kindred spirits who won't be tamed never expect what happens next.

Running for his life from a despotic ruler, Caius has left his ancestral home on the planet Thelona, arriving at Earth’s Colony Twelve in the company of his human former slave, Lela. She is no longer a slave on any earth colony, but it’s immaterial to Caius.

For Lela, on the other hand, the fact that she is free is everything. To whom does she owe her loyalty—the humans like herself on Colony Twelve, or the Thelonian Lord who loves her?

💕 To be released March 23 💕

Fantasy poetry driven by myths and legends has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I was published in poetry before catching the romance writing bug. I bring that background to my writing along with a lifelong addiction to horses, an 18-year career in various areas of psychiatric social services and many trips to Ireland, where I nurture my muse. My published works range from contemporary fantasy romance to fantasy historical, futuristic, science fiction and historical romance. Currently I live in rural Pennsylvania with a “motley crew” of rescue animals. You can see my books at www.miriamnewman.com.