Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Excerpt & Giveaway: Two Thousand Years by M. Dalto


Two Thousand Years
M. Dalto
(The Empire Saga #1)
Publication date: December 11th 2018
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult
Two thousand years ago, the Prophecy of Fire and Light foretold the coming of the Queen Empress who would lead the Empire into a time of peace and tranquility. But instead of the coming of a prosperous world, a forbidden love for the Empress waged a war that ravaged the land, creating a chasm between the factions, raising the death toll of innocent lives until the final, bloody battle.
Centuries later, Alexandra, a twenty-two-year-old barista living in Boston, is taken to an unfamiliar realm of mystery and magic where her life is threatened by Reylor, its banished Lord Steward. She crosses paths with Treyan, the arrogant and seductive Crown Prince of the Empire, and together they discover how their lives, and their love, are so intricately intertwined by a Prophecy set in motion so many years ago.
Alex, now the predestined Queen Empress Alexstrayna, whose arrival was foretold by the Annals of the Empire, controls the fate of her new home as war rages between the Crown Prince and Lord Steward. Either choice could tear her world apart as she attempts to keep the Empire’s torrid history from repeating itself. In a realm where betrayal and revenge will be as crucial to her survival as love and honor, Alex must discover whether it is her choice – or her fate – that determines how she survives the Empire’s rising conflicts.



EXCERPT
Alex’s head hurt.
A lot.
She felt as though an entire troupe of Irish step dancers were performing behind her eyelids and she couldn’t close them tight enough to make the throbbing stop.
A light appeared above her, but whether it was natural or artificial—she couldn’t say. She tried to open her eyes, but discovered the light was too harsh for their precarious state and let them close again.
Her head was the heaviest it had felt, and worse than any hangover she could remember. Her body ached with more than a week’s worth of effort at the gym. As Alex attempted to push herself up into a sitting position and lift her head, a blinding pain came crashing through her skull all over her again and she fell back onto the bed she was lying on, clenching her eyes shut and praying this torture would go away.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, helping her steady herself back onto the bed, and a comforting lilt cut through the raging migraine behind her.
“Easy there. Traveling via Keys can be difficult for newcomers. You’ll get used to it as time goes on.”
Keys?
The memory of the confrontation within her living room flooded back to her and slowly Alex opened her eyes in the direction of the voice. As her vision adjusted, she remembered why. The same stranger from earlier stood before her. Or was it yesterday? She had lost track of time. He was standing over her, a candleholder in his hand. He looked down at her as she lay on the pillow, his blue eyes reflecting concern, pity and perhaps even amusement.
His eyes.
Then she remembered how she got into her current situation in the first place.
She wasn’t sure how long it had been since he abducted her, but before she could ask him, even at the thought of moving to sit up, the pain within her increased even at the slightest movement.
He hushed softly. “You are only going to make it worse. Just try to sleep it off, and we will talk when you wake…”
She stopped listening when the pounding behind her eyes and overall exhaustion overcame her and she let her eyes fall.





Author Bio:
M. Dalto is a fiction author of adventurous romantic fantasy and her debut novel, Two Thousand Years, won one of Wattpad’s Watty Awards in 2016. She continues to volunteer her time as an Ambassador, where she hopes to engage and inspire new writers. She spends her days as a full-time residential real estate paralegal, using her evenings to pursue her literary agenda. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading fantasy novels, playing video games, and drinking coffee. She currently lives in Massachusetts with her husband, their daughter, and their corgi named Loki.

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