Howdy! I am very excited to bring you an excerpt for this casually queer and expansive fantasy book, which is the first in a series. I would like to express my gratitude to Caffeine Book Tours for having me on this tour; and to the author providing me a e-copy of xyr book.
Be sure to check out the other blog tour stops today at @scorpioreader_’s Instagram. Find the tour schedule here.
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Title: All or None
Author: Aurora Lee Thornton
Series: Star Stories #1
Age Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Diversity: LGBTQ+
Publisher: Self-published
In a world where everyone has a soulmate, uniquely powerful mage Royiora and reluctant assassin Kalo collide in the worst of ways.
Royiora Daralkaen, the only mage alive able to use all five kinds of magic, has a near idyllic childhood in the country of Porescalia – before war breaks out with their antagonistic neighbors, Kloria.
Kalo Porla, a naturally magic-proof individual known as a Null, is trained to be as an assassin by the authoritarian empire known as the Domain.
When Kalo and his partner assassin are sent to kill a mage and his apprentice, it starts a journey neither man was prepared to begin.
Trigger Warnings for the book: harm to children, physical and psychological abuse, implied (off-page) rape, violence, mature language, minors in implied sexual situations (teenaged romance), implied sexual situations, bigotry towards fictional races, and suggestive language.
Representation: demisexual cis main character, pansexual cis main character, demisexual trans, bisexual cis, pansexual cis, asexual cis, pansexual polyamorous cis, pansexual polyamorous cis
“Don’t be nervous – the interview is really easy. All you have to do is sit there – and hold my hands,” the man said, holding out both hands.
Kalo scooted forward, so that he could put his hands in the man’s.
The man looked to the mages around them and nodded.
The one with the red earring stamped with the nine-pointed star of Guulruf – the symbol for infernal magic – stepped forward first. Her pupilless white eyes – the eyes all Healvithi had – turned red as she held out a hand and set the pair on fire.
Kalo jerked in surprise, but the man held him in place. The fire didn’t burn either of them – it couldn’t. It was the black flame of infernal magic, rather than a natural red.
The woman waved her hand and it stopped, and she wordlessly stepped back.
And so it went – the elemental mage also set them on fire, but with natural flames. The arcanist hit them with pure force, the divine mage with healing light, and the feywylder with anger.
Through it all, the man stared at Kalo intensely without speaking. The boy wasn’t sure what to make of it – or what the man was looking for.
When the last mage stepped back, the man released Kalo’s hands.
“Null,” he said. Then he nodded to Kalo, “You can go now.”
The boy nodded, and hesitantly got to his feet. He turned to see the adult that had led him into the room was still there, and they took him away from the first room. No one had returned when he’d been waiting in there, so Kalo wasn’t surprised to be taken somewhere else.
They entered a circular room with five archways leading into dormitories. Kalo noticed that each had different plants in them – color coded to match their magic type, he supposed.
His guide went to the wall between two of the arches, and pushed one of the bricks, and a circle in the center of the floor shifted sideways to reveal a staircase.
“This way,” the man said, walking down.
Kalo frowned, looking at the dormitories in confusion before following after.
At the foot of the stairs, the man held out an arm, “This is the Null dormitory – your dormitory.”
“I thought there were only five dorms?” the boy asked, tail lowering to the ground in uncertainty.
“That’s because we don’t want the other children to feel bad,” the Instructor said, suddenly stepping into the entranceway with a smile, “You see, some of you are more special than the others – most Nulls are only really good at absorbing one kind of magic. But you and your dorm mates are really good at absorbing all of them.”
“Oh,” Kalo said, supposing that made sense.
The woman held out a hand, and that was when the boy noticed she also had a black earring, “Come on, let me show you inside. What’s your name?”
“Kalo,” he said, taking her hand and looking around. The Null dormitory was full of mushrooms and very pale plants, some of which seemed to glow.
“Well, Kalo, you are very special indeed,” the Instructor said, leading the way back.
There were only two other children there so far, and only about a dozen pads total.
“Why don’t you take this pad, hm?” the woman asked, leaning down in front of the boy. She put her hands on his shoulders, still smiling pleasantly, “You’re going to do great things, Kalo – the Trinity has a lot of faith in you already.”
“I’ll do my best, ma’am,” the boy said.
The Instructor chuckled, ruffling his hair as she stood, “I know you’ll be fantastic.”
Kalo watched her leave, then turned to the pad they’d stopped before. He stepped into it, and the soft earth was cool beneath his clawed feet. He dug his toes into it, all four sinking in easily.
He sat down and felt it with his hands, marvelling at how high quality the soil was. It was dark and loamy, unlike the soil his family used.
Then the Instructor led Hult in, and the girl sneered at him in passing.
Kalo sighed in resignation – it couldn’t all be good news, he supposed.
Aurora is a nonbinary, asexual writer with a new goal in life: to write the queerest books possible. (And yes, xe means gay, but also weird is good too.) Xe loves dragons and fantasy, and someday hopes to complete a (soft) science fiction novel as well. Currently, xe lives with xyr two cats.
Connect with Aurora Lee Thornton: Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
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