Today I'm hosting a Choose Your Own Adventure blog hop written by the lovely Eliza Tilton, author of Broken Forest, which came out yesterday! Woo! So, without further ado...
If you’ve landed here during your adventure, skip all this
and continue your adventure below.
If you’re wondering what’s going on, go here to start your own adventure!
And may The Creator bless you on your journey.
If you hunt with
Tavo, he won’t let you tag anyone, but you may be able to figure out his trick.
“Yes,” you say.
You follow Tavo
who follows the stream east—towards the wolves. This isn’t your first hunt, but
you’ve yet to see a winter wolf. The stories your father tells, describe them
as large white nightmares that hunt in packs. Facing a beast like that isn’t
what you had in mind.
The stream winds
around a large pine, and Tavo stops.
“Something
wrong?” You scan the trees, searching.
“No, nothing’s
wrong,” he says, turning to face you.
His dark eyes
almost appear black, and the closer he steps, the more your pulse quickens.
“Can I tell you a secret?”
You nod, curious
to hear what the ‘great’ Tavo has to say.
His hands fidget
and he can’t seem to look you in the eye.
“Tavo?”
When he doesn’t
answer, you turn to leave. “I have no time for games,” you say.
Suddenly, Tavo
is standing in front of you.
“What . . . .”
His lips press
against yours, igniting a fire inside you. The fire grows as his hands travel
from your face to your sides. It’s no secret you care for him, but to know he
feels the same lifts you into the sky, whirling you around in bliss.
He pulls away.
His hands find their way back to your face, caressing it.
“Forgive me for
taking so long,” he says.
The kiss has
distracted you, but you’re no fool. “How did you move so quickly?”
“That’s what I
wanted to tell you.”
A wolf howls.
“But not now,”
he says, grabbing your hand. “We need to move.”
Both of you run,
following the stream until it ends at a pool where two wolves sit eating a dead
animal. The sight of the massive beasts sends ripples of fear through you.
You’re frozen in their presence.
Tavo steps in
front of you, pushing you behind him. “Stay here,” he whispers.
Before you can
argue he walks towards the wolves, his hands stretch out before him.
“Tavo!”
At the sound of
your voice, the wolves look at you. Their eyes glow a sickly yellow. Keeping
your gaze on the white creature, you grab your dagger. When the first wolf
leaps, you throw the dagger straight into its eye. The wolf howls and thrashes
its head back and forth, then runs back into the forest. It’s then you see the
fire sprout from Tavo’s palms.
The fire covers
the other wolf in a blanket of death.
Tavo grins, but
he shouldn’t. Any magic user must be sent to The Order where they will be
tested. The last villager that went to The Order was never seen again.
“Look Gwen.”
By the pond are
bunches of black flowers, enough for the next two moons. You’re glad you
survived the wolves, but terrified as to what will happen to your beloved Tavo
when the elders learn of his secret.
END
Broken Forest Goodreads blurb:
Hopeless he'll never be more than the boy who didn't save
his brother, 17-year-old Avikar accepts his life as the family stable boy,
trying to forget the past. But when his sister, Jeslyn, is kidnapped, the
thought of losing another sibling catapults him on a desperate quest. With his
best friend by his side, and using the tracking skills he learned from his
father, he discovers Jeslyn has been taken, kidnapped by one Lucino, the young
lord of Daath, a mystical place thought only to exist in fables.
And Lucino has plans for Jeslyn.
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Eliza graduated from Dowling College
with a BS in Visual Communications. When she’s not arguing with excel at her
day job, or playing Dragon Age 2, again, she’s writing. Her stories hold a bit
of the fantastical and there’s always a romance. She resides on Long Island
with her husband, two kids and one very snuggly pit bull.
BUY THE BOOK!
