New Release! Pearls Like Rain

[m_barnette]

Pearls Like Rain by Michael Barnette
Genre: gay fantasy erotic romance (m/m)
Heat Level: Chili Pepper
Content Warnings: gay sexual practices
Length: 17,000 words / 60 pages
Price: $3.99
Released 26th June 2013 by Torquere Press
http://www.torquerepress.com/

Tag Line
Two men vying for one prize and a chance at love.

Blurb:
Raien and Kaelys have reached the final match that decides the championship and conveys a rich purse for the winner. With their dreams for the future at stake, neither of them is going to make it easy for the other to win. But when a bright flash of light momentarily blinds Kaelys causing him to make a mistake more than money is on the line. With Raien’s life and the outcome of the match undecided they have nothing to do but talk to one another. They discover some truths that have the potential to change everything. Unfortunately the future each of them desires hinges on one thing: Who won the championship?

Excerpt:
Warm sunlight bathed the marble pavement of the courtyard and struck glimmers of prismatic light from the jets of water streaming from a nearby fountain. A light breeze carried the lingering warmth of late summer and wafted the scent from end-of-season roses and early fall flowers through the gathering crowd. It teased the silken draperies of the small pavilions at the four corners of the plaza, made the ivory and red cloth flutter in the breeze.

Noble ladies, well-dressed in finery suited to the day and the occasion mingled with their equally well-dressed male counterparts while other people, men and women both, in less ornate garments moved through the crowd selling drinks and snacks, or taking bets on the coming matches.

A couple of dully dressed people of the servant caste strode out into the square carrying brooms. They quickly swept dust and fallen leaves from the courtyard, taking extra care with the areas designated with rare red marble from the Mainland. Done with their duty for the time being, they stepped out of the courtyard and began preparing for other cleanups should they be needed.

The scheduled matches were not set to take place for almost a full hour, yet the crowds were gathering, everyone eager to get good seats because today's bouts were the final ones of the season. The winner of this day's event would receive an outrageous amount of money, probably enough to live off of for the rest of his -- or her -- life. Enough to buy a tract of land or even a minor title of nobility if that was the winner's ambition. Though many of the top competitors were already members of the nobility, they were typically younger sons or daughters not in line to inherit a family title. The chance to gain a title and a small parcel land for themselves was what had drawn so many of the competitors to the games in the first place.

One by one, the players had been eliminated until it came down to the final pair:

Raien Ahirnisdeh, a young man of the peasant nobility, titled but poor as any commoner, and the Masked One, whose face and real name were unknown.

"He's done well, for someone who recently came from the Mainland," a woman remarked as the cleaning crew carefully swept the central square which would be used for the final match.

"I never expected him to come this far," a man's voice replied.

Neither did I, Raien thought to himself as he peered through a gap in the curtains separating him from the spectators. I'd hoped for this, but never dared believe I'd get to the very last match, the one that would convey the biggest purse of the season. The one which gains the winner the title of champion for a year. He pushed the curtain closed and returned to his seat inside the pavilion. He picked up his glass from the dressing table and sipped the cool mix of fruit juices, doing his best not to worry about the coming match. The final one of the entire season.

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Comments

[chrysalis1975]

congratulations :) It's on my TBR list this weekend.