First of all, watch for a big sale on
Fateful starting on Monday!!! ;)
Some of you have told me that you want Ethan and Danielle's story to continue. Well, guess what, it does!!!
The end of Forever is not the last time you will see Danielle and Ethan because Max and Nadia’s story overlaps theirs!
To keep print costs down for those of you who prefer that, I have to break the stories up into standard-sized novels. So if you want to see more of what happens to this couple as their “happily forever after” continues, stay tuned for The Order of Curse-Bound Knights.
As well as letting Nadia and Max tell you their side of story, you’ll get to see Danielle’s pregnancy, read about the way they all live without guards hovering over them constantly, and learn what happens with some of the other side characters.
The Fateful Trilogy was Danielle and Ethan’s story to tell. The Fateful Series will give them all their chance to be the main characters. I know that not many authors do this, but I just can’t resist continuing this series...And I hope this gives those of you who have enjoyed the journey something to look forward to!
I'm on the hunt for the cover model of Max. Hopefully, someone who resembles one of these actors/models a bit:
From Merlin, I really feel like actor Tom Hopper could pull off Sir Max. Just with longer hair...(He's the big tall guy in the center. He dwarfs the other knights, and that is how I described Max.) ~These photos were found via Google searches.
Or, and even better, is Matthias Streitwieser. This guy's face is
exactly how I pictured Max, except for the blue eyes. Max's are a light brown. I could totally see him winking at you just like Max does. (Sadly, Matthias is deceased. : ( He died in a fall while hiking in 2009. Truly tragic... I wonder if he has a brother, or a cousin...)
The Order of Curse-Bound Knights is book 5 in the Fateful Series and begins in medieval times as Max is fostered into this order of knights just as he also becomes a vampire. From there the story travels though Edwardian, and Victorian times, to conclude into modern day. Max's life spans centuries and this is his chance to tell it to you. Of course, Nadia will be a big part of it too... I'm still looking, but she sort of looks like the girl in the pictured to the right. Except her hair is black, and the dress would more likely be green. If going to Ren-Fest is your thing, this is the link to buy this dress.
http://www.renaissancemodel.com/lady-hunter-dress-301.html I will likely get the green one for the book cover.
Here's a little preview of The Order of Curse-Bound Knights:
Chapter One
The Order of Curse-Bound Knights
Copyrighted by Cheri Schmidt 2013
“Why can’t you just let me die in peace?” rasped Max, using up a large measure of his waning strength, resenting the men standing beside his bed for making him force out the words at all. Drawing a breath that wheezed into his failing lungs and rattled on its way back out, Max closed his eyes again.
The rancid flesh around his wound had stopped throbbing at least, and was now a dull tingle. But the poison had leached into his bloodstream. He could feel the toxic infection work its way to his heart, slowing it. From the inside out it sapped the life from his body.
Max was more than ready and more than willing to die from such a battle wound. He just wished his death had been instant instead of drawn out like this. A wave of new pain lanced through his insides and the surge caused him to cough violently. The contraction of his abdomen forced his head up and away from his pillow. Cool air swept across his sweaty hair and scalp. A hand caught his head, cradling it. Max resented that too. He didn’t want to be bothered even with kindness right now.
“Sir Maximilion, will you please join our order of knights?” The strongly spoken query drew his attention from his pain-filled jumble of barely coherent thought.
Max forced open his eyes and aimed a scowl at the man intruding on his efforts to welcome death so he could finally be released from this torture. The action took a lot more energy than he’d anticipated. His vision blurred instead of focused on the man who’d said his name was Beon. Another called Seth stood by his side. They looked like a pair of wavering blobs, one dressed in green, the other in blue. Max had met them, but only briefly a while back on his most recent visit to London. “Leave me be,” he managed in a raspy voice.
Fingers grasped the sleeves of his sweat-soaked shirt and gave him a shake. The laces at his neck loosened and cool air snapped at his feverish skin. “Listen to me, Max. You don’t have to die!”
Max wanted to growl, “Have you lost your bloody mind?” and emphasize his frustration with a creative string of vile curses. Instead he wrinkled his brow in anger again because that’s all he had the strength for. How could the fool possibly say he didn’t have to die? The idea was pure lunacy; he knew how he was feeling. He was dying, and there was no doubt about it, no escaping it, and no cure for the poison pumping through him.
“Hmm. Is he scowling at us?”
Seth nodded. “Indeed, I believe he is.”
“I’ll admit I’m impressed he can do it so fiercely on his deathbed. He is going to make a wonderful knight for the Order,” Beon said, pride and admiration in his tone.
“Indeed, he will,” the one named Seth murmured in agreement. “Young lad, say you will join our order, and you will not die.”
The ridiculous idea didn’t deserve a response, so he again let his eyelids slide shut, attempting to tune out these two morons. At this point, every inch of his body was one big ache and he prayed death would bloody get on with it! As a knight he’d dealt with his share of pain, plenty of it. This was worse than all of it. He’d been stabbed more times than he cared to number, but generally he hadn’t actually noticed the injury until he saw the blood. He’d been struck with arrows, grazed by lances, and slashed with blades. Having those wounds stitched up was nasty business as well, but again, he’d tolerated the discomfort well without the aid of ale. Of course he’d fought fearlessly in the hopes that whatever death he might eventually face, it would be a swift and glorious one. Alas, that had not been the case.
“We’ll return as the sun sets to show you,” said Beon.
Again, Max lacked the strength and motivation to respond, so he didn’t. After muttering something about the low position of the sun in the sky, the men finally left, and Max was able to slip into an un-restful and aching slumber....
Some fool who needed to die a violent death was poking at his shoulder. Max wanted nothing more than to reach for his sword and slice the idiot in two. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find the ability to even lift his arm. Feeling his fingers twitch, he attempted to lower his eyebrows to look as fierce and deadly as possible.
Next the person tapped at his cheek in the most obnoxious way possible. “Max, look at us,” whispered a voice that seemed vaguely familiar even though he couldn’t place it in his toxic-weakened state of mind.
Wishing to swat away the unwanted contact, Max tried to lift his arm but only succeeded in another twitch of his fingers.
“We need to get him out of here,” said another man softly.
What the...?
“He looks like hell. I don’t think we have much time.”
One of the men cleared his throat and hissed next to his ear, “Max. If you had a choice whether you lived or died, what would you choose?”
Max made a weak scoffing noise. “I don’t have that choice—” Those five words had scraped their way out and he didn’t know if he could speak any more.
“But what if you did?” The man gave him a shake. “There isn’t much time. Give me your answer.”
Ignoring them wasn’t getting him what he wanted, but answering might. Hoping they’d leave him alone after this, Max pushed out through his dry lips, “Life.” This wasn’t the kind of death he’d fantasized about. He was supposed to die in a gruesome battle having saved the king through his valiant heroics, not from some bloody infection....
“What did he say?” one of the men asked. To Max it felt like he’d leaned closer.
“He said life.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes, life does not rhyme with death.”
“I think we should bite him before we try moving him.”
What? Max felt his insides cringe at the strange twist to their conversation. He must be hallucinating. Please, God, take me now! he prayed in his head.
“I concur.”
His eyes swung open and Max tried to focus on the faces hovering above him in the darkened chamber.
“He’s looking! Hurry, show him your fangs.”
Max blinked and stared at what he assumed was the man’s mouth. He had to be hallucinating this entire exchange, it was just too odd.
“Are you showing him?”
“Yes, of course I am!”
A moment of silence.
“I don’t think he can see them.”
“Eye contact, then?”
“Look at him, Seth! He’s completely addled!”
“Breath then.” First the shadow of one of the men’s head fell over his face, then cool air rasped against his skin and he felt himself sink farther into the mattress as even more coherent thought was snatched from his brain. If he hadn’t been completely addled before, he was now.
Max felt the men lift his limp arms from the mattress and then the coolness of breath, or what he thought was breath, as it touched his wrists, just before a slight pinching sensation caused him to attempt pulling back. He was too weak to even budge....
(I think I'll add a bit more to this exceprt...so check back soon.
Books in the Fateful Series are, or will be: (Please note that this list could, and probably will grow. Plus I might change the book titles as needed. Some of these will be novellas.)
Fateful (Book1) ~Ethan and Danielle
Fractured (Book2) ~Ethan and Danielle
Forever (Book3) ~Ethan and Danielle
Sophia's Cookbook for Mortals (Book4) ~Sophia
The Order of Curse-Bound Knights (Book5) ~Max and Nadia
Becoming Cursed (Book6) ~Beon and Sophia
Little Red (Book7) ~The witch named Little Red and the werewolf she falls for.
Other Characters likely getting their own stories are Brianna, The Black Prince, and perhaps more...
