“Actually she found me,” the lady said with the same joy. The two strange creatures stood staring at her as though they had been given a new toy.
“I’m sorry but how is it that you know me and why am I here?” Serephina asked through a shaky voice. She wasn’t afraid. The house was too peaceful to be afraid. Her hosts were too beautiful to cause fright. She was nervous though and that rang in her high little voice.
The strange lady jumped as though something shocked her before coming to Serephina and saying, “Oh I am sorry dear. Please come sit and we will explain.” Serephina followed the two of them to a large sitting room full of pillows. She found a smaller one and sat down as instructed.
The lady went on to explain that her name was Lady Eirene Levannah and the man was her husband, Lord Adair Levannah, they were the rulers of the land. Serephina knew their names the moment they left the woman’s mouth. She had heard many stories of the rulers. They were greatly admired by all creatures in Neveah for ruling with warm hearts and keeping the land peaceful.
“I thought you would never come, Serephina, but Adair promised you would. He was right and I am so happy.”
“Why were you waiting for me?” Serephina asked, confusion thick in her voice.
“Well, you see, we know why you left home. We know that you have a soft heart. You are not the fighter elf that most elves are. We know how out of place you felt back home and how heartbroken you were when you learned your mother could have no more children. We know that your big heart brought you to us. You can be happy here Serephina. You can be yourself. I am hoping you will help me with my own children.”
“Help with your children?”
“Yes, we would very much like you to stay with us and help raise our children. You have such a wonderful maternal instinct, Serephina. Your help would be invaluable to me.”
Serephina knew she should think things over. She shouldn’t just jump at the chance of caring for royal children. She should, at the very least, speak to her mother, hear her opinion, and get her advice. She knew all these things, yet she dismissed any misgivings and jumped at the chance to become part of the Levannah house.
“Of course I will help you. Nothing makes me happier than caring for children,” Serephina said, her little bow mouth drawn into a deep smile. The Lord and Lady Levannah smiled back, their hearts warmed by the magnificent little elf.
“Come with me, I will show you around your knew home,” said Lady Levannah.
“Of course Lady Levannah,” Serephina responded.
“Please dear, call me Eirene. We are going to be wonderful friends.”
“Of course Eirene. Thank you.”
Serephina was shown around the home, the nursery, the kitchen, the eating area, the gathering room and to her room. These people really had been expecting her. The walls were covered in a rich purple fabric, the windows covered in heavy white curtains. There was a large bed in the center of the room with a fireplace nestled into the wall. She was shown her bathroom and a closet full of clothes. She was nearly speechless.
“Thank you,” she whispered as she looked around in awe. Tears threatened to escape her violet eyes but her hand ran across her face forcing the tears back.
“No thank you Serephina. I am grateful to have you here,” Eirene said before leaving the elf to herself for a bit.
The years to follow brought much joy and happiness to Serephina. The firstborn child was girl; they called her Annika. Two more pregnancies followed but Eirene was unable to birth either of them which left the entire house heartbroken. Finally, after two failed attempts, the Lady gave birth to a son; they called him Denali. Serephina spent her days with the children and watched proudly as they learned to talk, walk, read and write. In her spare time, she kept the company of Renny, a house guardian.
Renny quickly became Serephina’s best friend. Whenever she was not with the children and when he could get his brother, Diallo, to guard the house, they would explore Neveah. Renny always made her smile and they were never short of laughter. When Annika Levannah was old enough to recognize the connection she questioned Serephina.
“Is he your boyfriend,” she asked at the tender age of fifteen.
“Of course not,” Serephina replied as she helped button the back of the girls gown. “Renny and I are the best of friends but that is all.”
“Why only friends? Surely you can see the love in his eyes when he looks at you and I can see the love in your eyes when you look at him.”
“Nonsense child, in case you missed it, I am an elf and he has sworn to protect his house. We are from a different species. We cannot be together like that.”
“Says who?” Annika questioned, for that, Serephina did not have an answer. Rather than encouraging the girl Serephina let the subject drop, until she saw Renny again.
Serephina forced herself to look deeper into her relationship with Renny. Though she thought Annika was a foolish girl who didn’t understand the ways of the world, she couldn’t help but be curious as to what the girl saw in Renny’s eyes. She was sure it wasn’t love. It couldn’t be but it was and she knew she loved him as well. Renny couldn’t help but notice that Serephina was distracted and even agitated.
“Are you OK Sere?” he asked and she laughed nervously. She wondered if he knew he was in love with her or that she was in love with him. She tried to find a soft way to say what she needed to say but she came to the conclusion that this was not going to be easy so she just came out with it.
“No, actually I am not OK. Are you aware that you are in love with me and I am with you?” she asked bluntly. His dark green eyes widened in shock. It was now his turn to laugh nervously as she stood staring at him. For the first time she consciously noticed his appearance. She had always known he was handsome but now she realized he was breathtakingly handsome. His curly blond hair hung just above his shoulders, barely grazing his porcelain skin. His dark green eyes were rimmed with thick, dark lashes and his mouth always seemed to be smiling. Yes he is beautiful. The thought made her suddenly self-conscious and she immediately regretted what she had said. How could a creature so lovely love her back?
She stood there, all of three and a half feet of her and felt more self-aware than she had ever felt. She suddenly wished she was a foot taller with blond hair instead of purple. She wished her eyes were a normal color and that her face was more proportioned. Her lips were too red and a little too big. She began twirling her hair as she silently picked herself apart. He was being too silent for too long and this deepened her anxiety.
“I’m sorry, I should not have said that,” she said as she began to walk away. She was just a few feet away from him when she felt his hand on her arm.
“Don’t go,” he said quietly as he pulled her closer.
“You don’t have to do this Renny. You don’t have to pretend to love me just to save my feelings. I am a stupid girl that had a crazy thought, nothing more,” she said while trying to pull away.
“You have never been more wrong, Sere. You see, I do love you, with my entire heart. I have known that since I first laid eyes on you. I just didn’t know you loved me too.”
She couldn’t believe her ears. Annika had been right; he did love her. She didn’t know how it would work or if it could work but in that moment, Serephina’s life was perfect.
Biographies
Dennis De Rose
Dennis De Rose is a 58-year-old father of three, two girls and a boy; he has four grandchildren. He is married to a girl from Holland, Carla, and has been for almost 39 years. He graduated from SUNY New Paltz in 1976. He is currently a counselor in a prison, with 35 years of experience and is getting ready to retire this year. He edits fiction and has been doing that for three years nonstop. He wrote his poem, “That's Chuck, he's my Friend” in memory of his college pal, hoping that his sisters will see it someday. His second poem, “Thanks God for Pearl” is written about the faithfulness of a wonderful longtime friend from his church;
he has known Pearl for almost 55 years.
This is Dennis’ little piece of the Den…Come in, sit down and chat. The Den is free to join. https://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?id=150139
Hena Tayeb
As a part time writer and a full time photographer, Hena Tayeb has always loved all forms of expression. She is particularly fond of looking deeper into the everyday to find further meaning and bringing to light the extraordinary.
https://www.henatayebphotography.com
https://www.henatayeb.blogspot.com
Peter Tranter
Angie Merriam
Angie Merriam resides in the beautiful Pacific NorthWest and is happily married to her best friend. She and her husband have three wonderful children, a dog, and a fish. She is the author of the Neveah series as well as a writer of multiple short stories and poems.
She loves barbeques with family and friends, photography, movies, music, and of course reading. She was influenced by the works of Diana Gabaldon, Stephanie Meyer, Nora Roberts, Danielle Steele, and J.K. Rowling. She currently writes romantic fantasy but looks forward to exploring other genres.
Contact her at:
https://www.facebook.com/Abrokenforever
[email protected]
https://www.angiemerriam.webs.com/ (where you can sign up for her mailing list)
or follow me on twitter @psladiebug
Pam Bitterman
Pamela Bitterman’s first book, Sailing To the Far Horizon, published by Terrace Books, a Trade Imprint of The University of Wisconsin Press, is the author’s own story of life, loss, and survival at sea is graphically biographical. It encapsulates the author as a product of the first thirty years of her life. It is published in hardcover, and will soon be released in paperback as well as digitally.
Muzungu, the author’s Travel/Adventure/Memoir of her unlikely escapades throughout Kenya picks up on that journey a couple of decades later.
She has also written an award winning (CBC GOLD MEDAL WINNER and SHARP WRIT BOOK AWARD FINALIST) children’s book titled, When This Is Over, I Will Go To School, And I Will Learn To Read; A Story of Hope and Friendship for One Young Kenyan Orphan.
Finally, the author has penned a homily entitled, Child, You Are Miracle, published by World Vision.
Links to these, plus PR Events, reviews, and trailers to her three published books can be found on her website: https://pamelasismanbitterman.com Bitterman’s writing has emerged amidst her travels, adventures, and finally her marriage and children, her persona as wife and mother – the heart of her, the author as her best self.
Her future remains to be seen, and to be told.
Cheryl Campbell
My name is Cheryl Campbell, now an accomplished poet and writer, after
many years of practice!
I am married with 2 grown-up children and live and work in Luton, Bedfordshire.
My work is now in freelancing as a Poet and Writer, you can contact me
at: https://cherylcam.wordpress.com
Simon Marshland
A rolling stone with most of my life spent on the move, living and working in places as diverse as East Africa to South America. More recent activities have been based around the Mediterranean ranging from yacht chartering in Greece to fish farming in France. But wherever I am and whatever I do, writing remains a compulsion and I can’t kick the habit. Currently I’m living in the West Country but admit to having itchy feet.
Nandita Chakraborty Banerji
Nandita Chakraborty Banerjji, a Mumbai-based author, is a qualified microbiologist. She has been interested in writing from her school days and was the editor of her school magazine. Some of her short stories have been published in magazines and books, including the Chicken Soup series. She is the author of the novel, **The Mysterious Dreams**, a love story between an Indian girl and a hipster from US, filled with humor, experiences, imagination, wisdom and insights.
Leslie Silton
Leslie Silton is an artist, a poet, a writer, a photographer, a book editor and writer’s coach who started her creative life as a poet in Greenwich Village at the ripe age of 18. After that there were stops along the way for acting, folk music, art classes in Paris, and a BFA at the Massachusetts College of Art where she majored in painting. She has self-published six chapbooks and been published in various poetry anthologies. Her poetry can also be found online, as well as recorded on CDs. A number of live readings were done on the radio. Being both an artist and a writer, Leslie has participated in over 150 open mics in Boston, NYC, Los Angeles, and Paris, France, and exhibited and sold her paintings and photographs. Leslie is now the facilitator of a writing workshop in Los Angeles which has been running twice a month since 1991. Her career includes a spoken word performance at Mt. Holyoke College and another at MIT. It also includes a children’s play which she wrote, directed and designed the sets for at Theatre-on-the-Wharf in Boston, a student ballet produced at Antioch College based on one of her prose poems, art workshops at Red Cross shelters for earthquake victims in Los Angeles, and two murals painted to promote Human Rights. Writing books has become her main creative outlet. Another of her short stories is due to be published on the web in June 2012 and a new online magazine selected one of her poem for their publication. Besides all the poetry, Leslie has completed a dozen short stories, three novellas, and two novels but she thinks her magnum opus may turn out to be the fantasy story she’s been working on (intermittently) for nearly a decade.
Brian T Shirley
Brian T Shirley is a professional comedian, spending nearly twenty years touring the U.S.,Canada and The Bahamas. As well as a performer of comedy, Brian is also a comedic writer. He writes his own show material. He has writing credit for an independent movie called "After Hours", he has written short stories and has published two very funny books "Make Love Not Warts" and " Four Score and Seven Beers Ago...".
O. Warfield
O. Warfield resides in Richmond, Virginia. Author and poet, born in Brooklyn, New York. O’s objective through her book, "Omar Blue and K-9 Town, USA" is to reach out to children, dog lovers and avid readers, through hours of reading entertainment. Her characters have personalities that draw fans young and old.
To fulfill a wish to bring enjoyment to children and adults with special needs, O. Warfield reads to children’s groups in hospitals and communities, and to adults in group homes, senior citizen communities and hospitals.
To find out more about O. Warfield, visit the following links which include other entertaining stories and an interview done by accredited author Renee Hand.
Blog “My Dog Leads Two Lives”: https://www.omarblue.blogspot.com
Children’s: blog radio interview:
https://www.blogtalkradio.com/storiesfromunknownauthors/2011/10/05/interview-for-omar-blue-and-k-9-town-usa
Stacey Kingsley
My pen name is Stacy Kingsley and I write horror. I love the horror genre fully except I find that movies today tend to veer more towards shocking the audience and gore rather than towards actual scares. I am currently working on a series of 4 zombie novels. The first one was titled "Zombies Are People Too!" and was published about 2 years ago. It is available on:
https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/zombiesarepeopletoo or
https://www.amazon.com/
The second one, which I am working on now, is titled "Zombies Bite!" and I hope it will be out either winter of this year or spring next year. I once played a zombie in a short independent film and have also done zombie makeup for a live ice skating productions. The story "Patient Zero" came from an idea I had about writing a bunch of short stories from the zombies’ point of view, instead I wrote the story and that developed into the books that I am working on now. I hope to go back to the stories and do a whole book of short stories from different zombies’ points of view. I live with a wonderful husband and two spicy cats in California.
Beth Gaulda
My name is Beth Gualda and I am the aut
hor and cover artist of
(presently) five modern Gothic fantasy novels that I've collectively
titled, Moonlit Wings. I was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, raised
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and have resided for the past twelve years on
the beautiful "Treasure Coast" of South Florida. I've been happily
married twenty-three years now to my very best friend who continues to
inspire me and daily reaffirms my belief in true love, so naturally I
tend to gravitate towards writing about romance, love, and passions. I
have eclectic tastes and interests otherwise. I’ve been writing
stories since I was a child, but then just about everyone in my family
writes, either professionally or as a hobby. I quickly developed an
interest in writing science fiction stories and tried writing various
fan fictions, followed by both historical and modern genre romance,
which steered my writing towards paranormal romance, fantasy romance,
and erotica. I love to read as much as I love to write, but I also
will stay up all night drawing. It's my worst vice since I quit
smoking three years ago.
Wade Cox
I was born and raised in Southwest Virginia. I graduated from college with a marketing degree, and after several sales jobs, found that really wasn’t the life for me. I had taken a few creative writing classes in college, so I fell back on that when the sales didn’t work out. Eventually, I showed my work to several people, and they were very encouraging, so now I firmly define myself as a writer.
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