Title: A Witch’s Tale
Author: Judy Kentrus
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Book Blurb:
The witch’s heart is cold, filled with a cauldron of secrets untold.
Eyes a brilliant hue of blue shed tears of sorrow.
Where once there was happiness, he’s tortured by grief.
Trapped in a witch’s lair of loneliness, only the pure of heart will set him free.
In dreams amber eyes bring a crystal spirit of light and happiness.
Secrets revealed will change his destiny and be rewarded with a heart of gold.
Seth Wolfington’s fate was sealed at the age of 13 when he heard the poem being chanted
by his aunt Queenie, kneeling in the center of a pentagram. As the disguised master illusionist, The Devil Knight, he performed his greatest illusion, making himself permanently disappear when he’s questioned in the death of his assistant.
Trying to live a normal life with his young daughter, someone who knows the secrets from his past turns his life into a living nightmare.
Despite having to work two jobs to support her family, Elaine Madison is very happy with her life. Her well-ordered life changes when she wins a tea leaf reading at Tahlia’s Mystical Teas, the new tea shop in town. Not one to believe in silly fortune telling, she’s skeptical of anything the gypsy might reveal. She’s shocked to learn two men with blue eyes will come into her life. Both are facing life-challenging situations. The gypsy gives Elaine an evil-eye talisman to wear for the next eleven days to keep away evil spirits. That’s the number of days she’ll have to decide on which man to bring everlasting happiness.
Excerpt:
The witch’s heart is cold, filled with a cauldron of secrets untold…
Eyes a brilliant hue of blue shed tears of sorrow.
Where once there was happiness, he’s tortured by grief.
Trapped in a witch’s lair of loneliness, only the pure of heart will set him free.
In dreams, amber eyes bring a crystal spirit of light and happiness.
Secrets revealed will change his destiny, and he’ll be rewarded with a heart of gold.
Seth Wolfington sat at his desk and read the poem he’d first heard when he was thirteen years old. He’d paled when his daughter had shown him the parchment the other evening. That meant his six-year-old daughter had been in a room she never should’ve entered. When she’d asked what it meant, he told her the truth. He didn’t know.
He rolled up the parchment and put it in the top right drawer of the antique mahogany desk. There was no turning back. He’d turned the page of his life, started a new beginning for both of them.
He was Seth Wolfington, owner of Ram’s Head Corporation. His time was divided between overseeing the chain of Fresh Beans Coffeehouses and the gaming division that owned Phantasm of Power, one of the hottest video games on the market.
The door to his other life was permanently closed. The Devil Knight, world-famous magician, had permanently disappeared, performing his last illusion three years ago. The world was stunned that he’d never appeared again. Very few knew of his real identity. He planned to keep it that way.
His hood and props were stored in the attic. They’d stay there until he got answers as to why the perfect illusion that he’d practiced over and over again had failed, killing his assistant, Rosella’s mother.
Setting in the middle of the huge mahogany desk was a leather-bound scrapbook he’d found in the bottom drawer of the desk. Memories, so many memories, good…and bad. His fingers sought the talisman he wore around his neck, and his eyes drifted closed. He let himself be swept away to the summer of his thirteenth year that brought an end to the time he’d spent with his aunts while his parents traveled throughout Europe with their troupe of acrobats and magicians.
Queenie and Vadoma, had relished their Romany heritage and had colorful bandannas had been decorated with coins, and they’d professed that the charms kept away bad luck.
The sisters had spun tales about their Romany ancestors. The sisters would laugh whenever they read each other’s destiny, written in the tea leaves at the bottom of their China teacups. He’d been fascinated and wanted them to read his future. They’d agreed.
Vadoma had read it first before passing the cup to Queenie. He couldn’t understand why they didn’t laugh. They told him that someday he’d be a great magician, like his father. That part of his fortune had come true.
He’d suspected they were up to something, especially when the moon was full. There was also a funny smell coming from the turret room, accessed only through Vadoma’s bedroom. One night, he’d quietly snuck up the wooden stairs and heard a language he’d never heard before. His eyes had widened at the sight of a pentagram drawn on the hardwood floor. Lighted candles encircled the room.
Queenie knelt in the center of the pentagram, held up a parchment and chanted the poem “A Witch’s Tale” that his daughter had found all these years later. He’d been frightened and had known this was all wrong. His aunts weren’t witches. He’d run back to his bedroom, pulled the covers over his head and hidden for the rest of the night.
When his parents had picked him up a week later, he’d asked his father if Romanies practiced witchcraft.
His father had been furious, and they’d left the next morning. Vadoma had placed her hand on his shoulder and mumbled something he didn’t understand, and Queenie draped a leather strip around his neck with an evil-eye talisman. They swore the talisman would protect him. His father had nodded in approval and Seth had never taken it off.
He glanced at his watch and realized the time. Each night, he read his daughter a story at bedtime. Her bedroom was the one he’d slept in when he’d visited his aunts.
He paused before the door to the special room and took a deep breath before he opened the solid wood door.
Curiosity drew him up the steps as he suffered a case of déjà vu. A chill ran down his spine. The pentagram had faded but was still very visible to the naked eye.
He hurried to the other end of the house, and the sound of giggles brought a smile to his face. His sister was sitting on the side of Rosella’s bed, and she was brushing his daughter’s long blond hair.
Midnight, their black cat, was nestled between Rosella’s legs, and she was running a hand over the feline’s head. Each night, he checked on Rosella before he went to bed. The cat’s yellow eyes would flare open and glowed in the dark.
“Here are my girls,” he said and sat on the other side of the thick mattress. “What story are we reading tonight?”
“It’s called Ghost in the House,” Rosella said. I got it out of the library at school. We need to read this book because we have a ghost in our house.”
Seth looked at his sister and raised a brow. “And where did this come from?”
“This is the first I’m hearing anything about a ghost.”
He could understand moving to a new house that was, in itself, kind of spooky, but actually seeing a ghost. It was probably just a figment of her I need a new friend imagination.
“But, Daddy, I saw her twice,” Rosella insisted.
“I’ll tell you what. The next time she appears, call me, and you can introduce me to your new friend.”
Buy Links (including BookBub):
If you could dress up as anything or anyone this Halloween, what or who would it be and why?
Pillsbury Dough Boy.
I love being an author, but I also love baking cakes and pies, but my favorite is cookies. My family has dubbed me the Cookie Queen.
Explain why your featured book is a treat to read:
A Witch’s Tale is pure Halloween fun and has all the “ghostly feels” of Halloween. I had so much fun researching this book from casting spells, magician’s slight of hand, Gypsy heritage, reading tea leaves, and the proper of using an Ouija board so you don’t have any strange entities hanging around your house.
One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon gift card.
Open internationally. You must have a valid Amazon US or Canada account to win.
Runs October 1 – 31
Drawing will be held on November 1.
Author Biography:
Judy Kentrus, Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, Seasoned Romance,
Historical Romance
I’ve always been a romantic at heart and married my high school sweetheart. I make my home in the Poconos of Pennsylvania. After raising our two children, I followed my dream to publish my books. I love to travel and include some of the places I’ve visited in my books. When I’m not at my computer giving couples their happily-ever-after, you can find me in the kitchen, baking, especially cookies. I’ve been dubbed the cookie queen by my family and friends. My stories are fun, sexy, romances that will make you laugh, cry and fall in love.
Social Media Links:
Website: http://www.judykentrus.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudyKentrus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/judykentrus/?hl=en
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