Teaser 1 for Begotten Son

Here is an early excerpt from Begotten Son.  Later I will post excerpts from later in the book.  Hope you enjoy!


William stood in the bedroom as the morning dawn crept in the open window, unconsciously clenching and unclenching his fist, working out the incredible tension that was racing through his veins. The reflex alternately hid and revealed the deep-black tattoo on the palm of his right hand, all the more black for the paleness of his skin. Two overlapping glyphs, it roughly translated to “The One with the Power of Life and Death.” No one else alive bore it, and yet, it was recognized by all Society members young and old.

A weak breeze caressed his short blond hair and white shirt and ruffled the thin white curtains. The scars and tattoos that showed with his short-sleeves gave a silent testimony to his life. The back of his right hand had a symbol in the same style but different than the one on the palm of his right hand. Around his left wrist was a bracelet-like tattoo and crawling up the softer skin of his left arm was a hideous scar, straight and obviously deep, the scar tissue raised high and whiter than the rest of his skin. Smaller nicks and scars speckled his arms and hands.

He was not bulky, rather lean muscle with not a drop of fat, like a predatory cat. His height was undecided as he made it be. He seemed tall, but it was merely his presence. It was the way he moved, his stance, the way he held his head. Out the windows and through the ancient trees, he watched the colors changing as the minutes passed, fiery red becoming vibrant orange then beaming yellow. Night’s purple passing and cooling to blue.

Another breeze came and, though it was warm, he stepped up to the bed and pulled the hand-quilted blankets up tighter around the man who lay there asleep. His brother was much like him, so much so that people had thought they were twins as children. And though the illness had taken a toll on him, Kade was still handsome and strong in appearance. Physically, however, pain was his companion and for a week now he had been unable to do more than raise his head from the pillow.

Breathing through his nose slowly, breathing away any rising emotions, he returned to watching the colors cascade across the sky and turn the glass window panes to sheets of warm gold. He did not turn away from it until he sensed his brother rising from sleep, his eyes opening slowly. William was no poet or artist like his brother, still even he could not deny the amazing hue those eyes held. Kade’s blue eyes were a shade found only in the vibrancy of the sunrise palette. Yet those eyes were dead now, Kade having been blinded as a child so that his pupils were but tiny dots leaving his eyes all blue iris, only enhancing their memorizing effect.
His brother opened his mouth as if to speak then closed it again. Nothing really needed to be said. They both were quite aware he was but days, perhaps a week, from death.

"I’m sorry, brother,” Kade managed after a moment, his voice as enchanting as his eyes.

William shook his head in denial at Kade’s words. Returning to him, he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Don’t.” It was not Kade who should be apologizing, but he. He had failed Kade. He hadn’t found a way to save him. It was not fair, but life had never been fair to them. William kept living though he often should have died, and here Kade had been dying slowly for years.  Taking his brother’s hand into his own, he squeezed it tightly, unable to speak any words of comfort as he should have. He took a calming breath.

"I think I found the right one,” he managed. “He is a Lord, his territory the closest actually. I will approach him today.”

Their father, King Malcom, had convened an assembly in the Western Society, the first time outsiders had been invited inside their boarders in decades. Delegates from the Eastern States and Southern Alliances were in attendance. Those from the North had declined, showing that while they were not as aggressive as the West, they were even more secretive. In truth, Malcom was really only interested in the East as they were the only ones able to challenge him; the only country able to withstand Malcom's army, the only ones with any kind of advanced technology and, by far, the largest population.

To William, however, their presence meant something entirely different. With over two hundred Lords and Ladies from the East in attendance, representing each of their territories or states, William had been able to observe them over the last several days, finding those unprejudiced, intelligent, and showing signs of kindness and trustworthiness. He needed one he could approach, one who would be willing to open his Keep to an ill Westerner. One who would be willing to barter and then keep his silence. He had finally found the best candidate with those traits, who was miraculously the one whose territory was just over the mountain range that formed a natural border between East and West.

The room darkened as clouds began to move in and covered the new born sun. The tree limbs and curtains shivered with a much colder wind. If a candle had been lit, it would have been snuffed out. Kade could not see the shadows that were creeping into the room called by the emotions his brother felt (but was trying valiantly to suppress), still he could feel them.

Kade squeezed back. “Don’t worry, brother. I won’t leave you yet.”

William nodded as two lone tears fell down his cheeks. He had not cried in years, but he did not wipe them away, so that they fell and dropped onto their clasped hands. One hand clutched Kade’s and the other clutched the edge of the wooden bed frame, a desperate hold on reality.