Earth - Book Four of the Ardraci Elementals

Today I'd like to introduce you to the fourth book in my Ardraci Elementals series, An Elemental Earth.

First, be still my heart, I actually have a blurb written for it already. Well, a tentative blurb really. I'm sure it will change as the story changes.

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She's trusted him with her secret, but can she trust him with her heart?


Chloe has spent her whole life feeling like an outsider because of her unique gifts. Now she has met someone whose gifts rival her own and it's both thrilling and terrifying.

Zephryn never expected to meet anyone like Chole when he came to this world. But he has a hidden agenda, an agenda that changes drastically once the Illezie Da'nat discovers something about Chloe that shouldn't be possible.

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Just to give you a better idea of what my main characters look like, I did a Google search to find a couple of images. So you can keep these two in mind as the story progresses. ;-)

We'll start with Zephryn. Isn't he pretty? You met Zephryn briefly in An Elemental Water. He was Kairavini's best friend, or as close to a best friend as the children from Dr. Arjun's compound were allowed to have. After he and the others were rescued they found freedom a hard thing to get used to. For a while Zephryn tried living on the elemental homeworld of Ardraci, but he had a hard time fitting in. Because he had been part of the breeding program conceived by Dr. Arjun, his gift was considered unnatural by many people. So he opted instead to join his friend Ravi on the starship Valkyrie. While on Ardraci he was befriended by a young Illezie, the caretaker race of the Ardraci, named Da'nat who went with him to the Valkyrie. Because Zephryn had studied the art of flight his whole life, it took very little for him to become a full fledged pilot. An Elemental Earth begins with Zephryn and Da'nat flying a scouting mission together.

Which brings us to Chole. Chole's mother, Tierra, escaped from Dr. Arjun's compound, somehow managing to take Chloe with her. She begged passage for them on a mining vessel which was headed out to the Deadlands, an area of space low in law enforcement but rich in minerals, ending up on the planet of Belspar. To pay for their passage, Tierra used her elemental gift to help with the mining process, intending to earn enough for them to continue on to one of the colonized worlds. But the mines took a toll on her, and she became ill. When it was discovered that the young Chloe had a talent for seeking out precious gems and ores, Gannon, the master-miner, forced her to work for him in her mother's place to pay for Tierra's medicine.

This novel in the Ardraci Elemental series takes place several months after An Elemental Fire and An Elemental Water. The massive surge of energy Pyre let loose at the end of An Elemental Fire has not diminished during its journey. Zephryn and his Illezie companion Da'nat were flying a reconnaissance mission, following the energy burst's trail. The energy that created it had been somewhat twisted, and there was growing concern about what it might be turning into. The story begins with Zephryn and Da'nat crashing onto Belspar.

Don't forget to check back every Thursday for the weekly installment of this on-line, draft serial, An Elemental Earth.