The Imbolc Artifact -Snippet Sunday

~*~Today's snippet contains mature subject matter~*~

Happy New Year! I'm taking part in Weekend Writing Warrior’s  Snippet Sunday. I'm posting one last snippet from Awakening of Brighid, Book 2 of the Sons of Herne series (synopsis below snippet), which just released yesterday!!
Last time, Eradimus, god of Imbolc, was being pressured to forget Brighid and take another lover for the Imbolc ritual. An aide interrupted with news that there has been a sign of Brighid's return-snowdrops in bloom in the earthen realm. Let's take up a few sentences later, as Eradimus makes ready to invoke the sabbat and cross the veil to where he hopes his love has returned. This snippet was edited to fit the criteria...

Eradimus was already headed for the artifact pedestal when his father said, “Go forth and do your duty, god of Imbolc. We will discuss matters when you have succeeded in your task.”

Eradimus paused in front of the pedestal with the garnet statue on top, and his eyes took in the lines of the exquisite carving. The bowed head, the delicate fall of wavy red hair, the cloak that fell in folds to her bare feet caught her essence, poise and beauty.

“I knew you would not fail me,” he whispered. “I knew you would not wait another generation to return.”

He reached for the figure, his fingers shaking while he reached for the wand cradled in her arms. The wand had been fashioned of ash, with knobs and slight bends that fit his hand to perfection when he withdrew the shaft from its perch. On the top end, a small cone from a conifer off their mountain had been dipped in pure silver and was attached to the top, creating a phallic shape.

The priapic wand heated when he took hold, the energies within swirling and demanding release as he lifted the artifact to point it at the veil between worlds.

What do you think?  

Awakening of Brighid is now available on Amazon!

It is the time of Imbolc, and Eradimus, god of the sabbat, is not the only one who fears that the realms are in jeopardy. A despairing earth is prepared to shake off its inhabitants by blanketing the world with storms, a fate Eradimus knows can only be avoided by the return of the woman he has loved for millennia. That Brighid is destined to return to his arms only once in each generation was a cruel enough fate before she failed to come back the previous year. Now the world mourns her loss—and Eradimus’s father, Herne, and the Counsel of Sabbats insists that he take another lover for an Imbolc ritual that will hopefully avert disaster. Only the last-minute appearance of a sign gives him hope that she has returned.

Brighid is not having the greatest day. A sudden storm hits while she’s out for a ride to tour the cliffs during an impulsive vacation, almost taking her over the edge with her rental bike. Lost and alone, she makes her way to the nearest shelter—a barn that seems to have been oddly readied for a visitor—to wait out the weather. When a strange, but gorgeous man shows up and claims to know her, she is infected by his sensual presence and very much wishes she could be the Brighid he so desperately seeks. Her true identity has been lost to her, and Eradimus must find a way to return it and join with her before all of humanity is lost along with her.

About The Sons of Herne:

The god Herne has appointed eight of his most virile, headstrong sons as keepers of the pagan holidays. To honor their sabbat, each must join with a mortal female in a ritual to maintain the balance between worlds.

It is the year of The Thousand Seasons, and the Fates have secretly conspired to mark the end of an era by granting the gods one thing they lack--a true union of male and female that will last beyond the passion of a sabbat joining.
Herne’s sons will wrestle with the conflict between sacred duty and their own yearnings, a struggle will not only challenge their beliefs, but may threaten the success of rituals that must be observed lest the mortal and immortal worlds collide in chaos.

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I'm J. Rose Allister, wife, working mom, and the author of over twenty-five books. Somewhere in between one and the next, I love hanging out here on my blog and over on Twitter. Give me a comment or follow-I love chatting with people!