BooksChatter: ☀☄ The Affiliate: Ascension [1]

Following the Release Day Party on 15 September, thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for The Affiliate, a Young Adult Fantasy by K.A. Linde (15 September 2015, K.A. Linde Inc., 339 pages).

This is the first book in the Ascension series.

PREVIEW: Check out the book's trailer, playlist and excerpts below. Read the Prologue and the first three chapters with Amazon Look Inside.

Author K.A. Linde will be awarding a $100 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀), reviews (✍) and guest blog posts (✉).

Trailer | Synopsis | Playlist | Teaser #1 | Teaser #2 | About the Author | Giveaway & Tour Stops

Synopsis

On the day of her Presenting, in front of the entire Byern Court, seventeen-year-old Cyrene Strohm's lifelong plans come to fruition when she's chosen as an Affiliate to the Queen.

Or so she thinks. When Cyrene receives a mysterious letter and an unreadable book, she finds nothing is as it seems. Thrust into a world of dangerous political intrigue and deadly magic, Cyrene's position only grows more treacherous when she finds herself drawn tothe one man she can never have...

King Edric himself.

Cyrene must decide if love is truly worth the price of freedom. Find out in this first book in USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde’s new Ascension series.

Teaser #1: Excerpt

     “I see the way you look at her, Edric. Your eyes follow her, you dance the longest dances with her, and now, you’re sending her presents. I’ve known you too long not to know that this is unlike you. You’re not Kael. You don’t fraternize with the Affiliates who parade themselves in front of you, hoping for a scrap of your time. Yet here you are with this Cyrene. What is she to you?” Daufina asked.
      At her question, Edric paced the long room. She watched him through the silence and wondered what he was thinking.
      “You told me once that you would inform me if you wanted to take a mistress—”
      “I do not want to take a mistress,” Edric snapped.
      Daufina straightened in surprise. He never raised his voice with her.
      “I apologize,” he said with a sigh. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
      “Just talk to me.”
      “Would you believe me if I said that I didn’t want anything to do with her?” His eyes were pleading.
      “No,” Daufina admitted.
      “No,” he agreed. “No, I wouldn’t either. I keep telling myself that I’m acting like a fool, Daufina, but then I see her again.” He stroked his chin as he tried to find the words. “She has this pull. When I’m with her, the throne slips away, and I’m just a man with a beautiful woman. It both intrigues and terrifies me.” He splayed his hands before him. “I can never be anything but the king…but when I’m with her, I want to be.”

Teaser: Excerpt

     King Edric sat back in his chair and plainly stared at her. “I want you here.”
     “That’s disappointing. I was hoping you would throw me overboard.” As the realization of what she had said caught up with her, she covered her mouth.
     King Edric burst into laughter. “Well, I certainly can’t throw you overboard now.”
     “I should hope not.”
     “I mean no offense. I hardly have cause to laugh this much in court. How was I fortunate enough?”
     “Did no one tell you of my presence aboard your ship?”
     “Ah, you got me.” He crossed his ankle over his knee and lounged back. “I did know you would be aboard, and I had heard that Daufina approved it. I didn’t stop it.”
     “Then, what else would you like to know?”
     The King leaned forward over the clutter of his desk and stared at her, seemingly waiting for something, but there was no more to the story. The Consort had invited her, and she had accepted.
     “So, you didn’t request this spot or—”
     “What? Of course not,” Cyrene said.
     King Edric smiled and stared at her like she was a pawn in a chess game.
     “Not that I do not want to be here,” she corrected.
     He stood regally and walked around the desk to face her. She stared up at him, wondering what his end game was. They’d had a moment in the gardens, but after the Ring of Gardens ceremony, she had seen little of him, yet here she was on his boat at the Consort’s request. Staring into his eyes, she found that she didn’t want to be anywhere else.
     Edric extended his hand to her, and she stood before him. He didn’t let go of her, and they moved a step forward until there was little room between them. He raised her hand to his lips and gently placed a kiss on the top. His eyes never left her face, and she felt flushed.
     “I think it will be quite a pleasure to have you on board, Cyrene.”
     “Thank…thank you, Your Highness,” she said, striving to put some distance between them.
     “Edric. Please, call me Edric.”
     “Edric,” she whispered, withdrawing her hand.
     “I’m sure you need to rest as well.” He walked her toward the door.
     “Yes, I believe I do need to rest.”
     He stopped her before they reached the door though. “Cyrene?”
     “Yes?” she asked. Cyrene’s stomach fluttered as she stared up at the King of Byern.
     “If I send a maid to your quarters, will you come to me tonight?”
     Whatever part of her that might have denied him vanished from her mind. “Yes.”

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About the Author

USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde is the author of The Affiliate, the first book in the Ascension Series. As a military brat, she traveled the world with her family, imaginary friends, and ever-increasing supply of books. She has spent much of her life dreaming up new worlds and characters and forcing them into uncomfortable, usually life-threatening scenarios. After graduating from theUniversity of Georgia with a masters degree in political science, she began spending every waking hour putting those characters onto paper.

When not writing, she spends her time dancing, collecting paperbacks in the hopes of filling a Beauty and the Beast style library one day, traveling to visit her friends who live all over the country, and still reading anything she can get her hands on. She currently resides in North Carolina with her husband and two puppies, Lucy and Riker, where she is hard at work on her next novel.

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