The Shape of Stars Unknown
Sybil Le Pyrmont
(The Aldarfall Saga, #1)
Publication date: October 15th 2020
Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy
World domination is the least of their problems.
A STRANDED DEMIGOD. Lau of the House of Feofar, troubled and headstrong, screwed up. Royally. Now he lives out his days in exile on Earth – the very planet he once tried to exterminate.
A RUDDERLESS MORTAL WOMAN. Silver Laing leads the ordinary life of a white-collar worker. Lonely and desperately in search of purpose and new horizons, she gets more than she bargained for when she is offered a mysterious job.
A CATACLYSMIC PLAN BILLIONS OF YEARS IN THE MAKING. When a deadly visitor from Lau’s shrouded past threatens to lay the world in ashes, Silver and Lau must form an unlikely alliance against ancient and far superior forces.
An alliance with the potential to shake the very foundation of the Universe.
Shimmering new worlds?
Sizzling tension?
Secrets as old as time?
Splashes of humour?If your answer to all of the above is ‘Hell, yeah!’ then The Shape of Stars Unknown is your guy. This first book in Sybil Le Pyrmont’s new urban fantasy adventure series, The Aldarfall Saga, will take you from Germany to Tibet, from Japan to Iceland and all the way to the other end of the Universe.
Excerpt:
It was a slightly grainy picture that appeared to have been snapped in great hurry with a telephoto lens. The man in it had long hair bound in a loose ponytail, its colour that of sand gleaming in a pallid sunrise, a couple of shades lighter than her own. Where Rafe’s sculpture of a face was almost too ethereal, this man’s held a tougher, though by no means lesser, kind of beauty. Silver saw clean-cut, pale features with sharp cheekbones and a contour some might consider a fraction too lean. Patrician was her first thought. Regal. No one could fail to see the strength this face emanated even from a lifeless, fuzzy photograph. Her fingers tightened around the can, leaving even deeper dents when she shifted her attention to Lau’s eyes. They were of a grey so light they seemed almost translucent, a tinge that she had never seen before and that reminded her of something out of a long-forgotten dream. Moonstone came to her mind. Mother-of-pearl.
‘Pretty, isn’t he?’
Mike’s voice cut through her musings. He hesitated. ‘I’ve got some footage too.
But I’ve got to warn you, it’s not for the faint-hearted. Wanna see?’
‘Yes.’ Whatever it was, she fervently hoped it would cancel out the staggering
effect of his face.
Mike clicked around
some more, and Lau disappeared from the screen. In his stead, a video began to
roll. It was even more blurred than the photograph; Silver could not identify
what she was seeing at first.
‘This was filmed in Douala, Cameroon, during the 2008 riots that came in the
wake of the world food price crisis. He and his people managed to stir up the
biggest upheaval the country had ever seen, and it took our guys a lot of sweat
and effort to regain control of the situation,’ Mike explained. ‘We only
learned of Lau’s involvement because one of his men blew the whistle. The guy
had the hots for one of our local field agents and blabbed to impress him.
Betrayal’s high up on Lau’s no-no list, as you’ll see in a minute. That’s him
over there.’
Silver watched a hazy
silhouette leaning against a wall. A glint of weak light illuminated a dirt
lane and fell on a strand of blonde hair. In front of the inordinately tall
man, a second figure knelt on the ground, tense, hands on his thighs, head
bowed. The scene had been filmed from afar; all conversation was drowned out by
street noises and distant shouting. Judging by the minuscule motions of his
head, the man on the ground was speaking while Lau listened. His arms were
folded over his chest, his ankles crossed, and although his visage remained
obscured, his entire stance conveyed a relaxed insouciance that stood in stark
contrast to the rigid posture of the kneeling man, who had stopped talking.
During the next few seconds, nothing happened. Then the man lifted his head.
Lau gestured for him to rise. Once he stood, the Netherlord began to speak. It
was not a long message. The other guy shook his head. Then, a sudden flicker.
Without a warning, the man dropped to his knees again. His hands seemed to rise
towards Lau as if in prayer before he collapsed and lay still in the mud. The
Auctor cast a fleeting glance at the lifeless body, turned his back to the
scene and disappeared with a calm, slow swagger.
‘What happened? I
didn’t see him move!’
Mike nodded. ‘It requires extreme slow-mo. Here, watch again.’
She leaned forward, half-rising from her chair.
There.
The movement was fast even in slow motion. While he remained leaning against
the wall, Lau’s hand shot out, grasped the other man’s chin and twisted his
head to the left. Silver could almost hear the neck breaking. The whole
operation had cost the Netherlord less effort than it took her to place her can
on the table.
‘Charming, huh?’ Mike switched off the video. ‘He can be such a sweetheart.
This was one of his more merciful killings, from what I hear, not to be compared
to what happens when he really doesn’t like you.’
‘Did he know he was being taped? Did he put on a show, killing that poor guy so
casually?’ ‘Nope. I’ve never met him in person, but they say he’s always like
that.’
Silver pressed her fingers against her temples to arrest the blending images of
Lau’s beautiful face and lethal hand. From the moment she had met Julian,
things had been an emotional roller-coaster ride, and it was obvious that the
level of craziness would shoot through the roof in days to come.
Author Bio:
Sybil Le Pyrmont was born in Germany and was raised on the Canary Islands (that Gallic name is a pseudonym – her actual name has as much flair as a tax return). Although she now resides in Frankfurt, Germany, her heart has been beating for Tokyo ever since she spent a year in that city and discovered her epic love for all things Japan. That includes, to her acute embarrassment, the Shinagawa train station jingle she has installed as her ringtone. When Sybil isn’t writing, or dreaming of the anonymous donor who will some day gift her a house in Japan, she splits her time between her airline day job and long rants about the sunshine and the always-too-hot weather.
Sybil writes urban fantasy adventure to whisk her readers away to realms of imagination that have a distinct possibility of existing somewhere in the depths of the Universe.
Visit spyrmont.com for more on Sybil and her writing.
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ReplyDeleteThis has a really unique-sounding storyline and an awesome title/cover :)
ReplyDelete-Amber Terry-