Servant of the Old Ways -Snippet Sunday

It's Snippet Sunday, a Weekend Writing Warriors'  blog hop!

Happy (almost) 4th to those US readers! It's my birthday month, vacation month, and book launch/tour month! Meanwhile, I've been busy slapping keys on Sons of Herne 5, Feillor: God of Lammas. 

Last time, Feillor, god of the harvest, was harvesting wheat when a naked human woman appeared out of nowhere, right in front of his scythe. We ended with: A human woman-naked, no less-had come out of thin air, kneeling before him with her hands outstretched until she saw his blade coming for her. She gasped and ducked, then threw herself prostrate on the ground.


We pick up from a couple sentences later, where we have switched to our heroine Salina's viewpoint...

Salina had only milliseconds in which to act to save her own life, throwing herself flat at the feet of the very deity she had just been begging for help. She saw the flare of anger, the steely determination in the greenish-gold eyes of the horned god as he swung the scythe to cut her down. She’d obviously done something wrong, but she couldn’t imagine what could have sparked such animosity. 
Something had stayed his hand at the last moment, however, because she’d seen his eyes widen and his arm pull back right as she prostrated herself face down among the itchy reeds.
“Forgive me, oh great Herne, for however I have offended you,” she said, wondering how to address a pagan god who was actually standing there in the flesh.
He didn’t reply.
“I am a servant of the old ways,” she went on, unable to stop herself from filling the silence with chatter. “If calling on you made you angry, I’m sorry.”
“Either silence your tongue or rise up so I may hear it properly,” he said. “Your words are muffled within the stalks of sacred wheat you are crushing.”

What do you think?  

About Feillor: God of Lammas

Feillor is preparing to bring in the first harvest before the celebration of Lammas, a task he undertakes for his own realm, not for the benefit of the humans who long ago abandoned respect for nature and the old ways. He raises his scythe to cut the sacred wheat and nearly "harvests" a woman who appears out of nowhere. Returning the earth woman means dealing with the Fates, who will grant his request to send her back on one condition--he must cross to the human realm and stay there for three days before deciding gods should abandon mortals forever.

Salina has no intention of letting a construction company gobble up the precious woods where she conducts her most sacred pagan rituals. She is praying for guidance when she is taken swept away to the realm of immortals--and almost straight into the blade of a horned god's scythe. She believes her prayers to Herne have been answered, but instead she learns that Feillor is actually Herne's son--and that he has little care for humans. When she is stuck with him for three days back on Earth, she decides to that she is just the witch to convince a god that the mortal realm is worth saving.

When forces in her world and his own combine to draw them apart, Feillor must come to terms with budding respect for humans-particularly the witch he aches to join with in the ritual of harvest.

Read Book 1 of the series, Dominus: God of Yule--and follow the link inside to get Book 2 free!
Buy on Amazon

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Weekend Writing Warriors!

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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!