Guest Blog: The Fallen Prince by Shea Berkley

UFI welcomes Shea Berkley Author of The Keepers of Life Series. Thanks for Joining us!!

 
Fallen Prince Excerpt #2

“Good morning, Dylan,” Grandma’s cheerful greeting slams into my ears.

What is it with old people and getting up early?

I dig my head further into the pillows. “Not now, Grandma.”

“Yes, now, Dylan.” She pulls the covers off, exposing my bare back to the cool air. Goosebumps rise. I’m still not used to Oregon’s cool mornings. It’s summer—where’s the 90 degree weather, or is it always this shy of downright cold?

I throw my arm behind me and rake my hand over the covers, trying to pull them back.

“Oh, no you don’t. Up. Grandpa has plans for you, and don’t ask me what. I have no idea, which usually means I won’t approve.” She paused. “Should I be worried?”

I push myself to my elbows before I look at her. “I’m a problem, Grandma. We’re down to that whole drastic measures thing.”

She ruffles my bedhead, but her eyes crinkle with concern she can’t hide. “Everyone goes through trials. If your grandfather says he knows how to help you, then…” she bites her bottom lip, worrying a tooth mark into the pink skin, “…we should trust him.”

Yeah, confidence oozes out of her.

“Then again,” she mutters, “your grandfather is a very creative man. Maybe I’ll have a talk with him before you go.”

She gives me a weak smile and leaves. I can just imagine what she’ll say to Grandpa. “Don’t break our new grandson, George. He’s still recovering.” There’ll be a long pause and lots of facial movements stressing the word recovering.

In her eyes I’m fragile—still broken.

I push to a sitting position, dig my elbows into my knees, and curl my fingers through my hair. I’m like a rope that’s been tugged too hard and the fibers are beginning to snap. I don’t want to admit it, but Grandma’s right, though not in the way I think she thinks.

I’m not sure I’ll ever recover. I can actually feel the rot of death eating at me. How many people can you kill in the name of war before you’ve crossed the line into murderer? All the screams and the horrified faces as they realized they were dying won’t go away. Crushed, burned, stabbed, and beaten—the images are a part of me now.

“I did what I had to do.” My voice is weak. Shaky. I’m not sure I’m convinced.

I can’t stop wondering if Leo blames me for his grandfather’s death. I do. He said the funeral was nice. Everyone showed up, even Carl Delgato, Jason’s bully of a dad. He went straight for the liquor afterwards. No one blamed him at the time. Jason had just been declared a runaway, but all Carl could see was his son’s opportunity to get a college wrestling scholarship going down the drain.

Time has a way of working for or against you. In a surprisingly short time, Leo has proudly accepted his grandfather’s heroism, Carl’s disgust with his son has turned to bitterness, while my frustration at knowing something is wrong with me, but not knowing what, climbs. We’re all living in a mess I created with varying degrees of success…or not at all. Somehow, I’ve got to clean it up. But how? That’s the mind-bender I’m dealing with.

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I was thinking ... what does anyone really want to know about me, and I came up blank. So I asked a few friends and below are some questions.  Now me being me, the answers are an amalgam of fact and fiction. I'll let you decide what's real and what's not. 

If you're itching to know more about me, then ask.  Depending what you ask, I'll add the question to the list with an answer that's as close to the truth as I can make it.   
 

Find Shea and her books

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The Fallen Prince
Keepers of Life #2

Dylan finally feels like he has it all. He's back home in the human realm with his beautiful girlfriend, loving grandparents, and some crazy powers over the elements. But Dylan's temper is climbing out of control, and along with the bursts of rage come new powers he wasn't expecting.

Kera has these new powers, too. She's seen them before and knows what they can do if kept unchecked…and it’s not pretty. Plus, going back to her home realm, Teag, would hasten the process. Kera is determined to keep her one true love, Dylan, safe on Earth, but when the barrier between the human realm and Teag weakens, allowing monster-like creatures to pass over, Kera becomes desperate to protect her home.

When Kera is kidnapped and imprisoned in a corner of her world that no one has ever escaped from alive, can Dylan overcome his unbridled powers—and himself—to save her?

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