Book Blitz - Excerpt & Giveaway - The Twelfth Knight by Victoria Sue

The Twelfth Knight

by Victoria Sue

(Guardians of Camelot, #1)

Publication date: October 1st 2019

Genres: Adult, LGBTQ+, Romance, Urban Fantasy

To battle an ancient evil the only weapon each hero will have is each other.

Hundreds of years ago, facing defeat, Morgana sent monsters into the future to vanquish a humanity King Arthur wouldn’t be able to save. The King might have won the battle, but now, centuries later, a few chosen men will have to fight the war.

Merlin always hated being named after some mythological wizard. His dad had been obsessed with the magic man of King Arthur’s Court before his untimely death – a loss that had sent Merlin reeling in a downward spiral. Now 23, and going simply by ‘Mel’ (thank-you-very-much), Merlin is ill-prepared (to say the least) for the outrageous claims of a proper English knight bent on overcoming evil.

Born a commoner, Lancelot was never supposed to be a knight in his own time, never mind now, in a modern world he is so woefully untrained to protect. Thrown into a battle centuries in the making, this flawed hero, and a young man too-used to battling monsters of the present day, will have to come together to save humanity.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

No one should live a thousand years. “And more,” Lance muttered, gazing unseeingly at the familiar lights spread before him. Thousands of flickering beacons like the candles on the huge banquet tables prepared for Uther and Igraine: the feasting and dancing. He could almost hear the clash of swords, lick the sweet taste of venison from his lips, and inhale the smell of smoke and spices as the meat roasted.

A car horn broke his thoughts, and Lance lifted his face to the ugly world and inhaled only traffic fumes. He shook off his memories and rose, his long, leather black coat billowing behind him, the weapons hidden beneath its folds. Four nights he had sat here and waited for them. Waiting for death. Sat in the dark, wrestling between being what was expected and simply staying sane. He had held on to the first for so long he knew the tightrope he walked toward the second got thinner every day.

Kay would take his place and be the champion he was born to be. Lance had been born a commoner. He had been fighting all his life to throw off that mantle, but it was true what people said.

Be careful what you wish for.

Muscles bunched and fell as he strode to the edge of the roof, filling his lungs with air before the smell hit him. Decaying, rotting flesh, the stench immediately so vile and putrid, he shook his head to clear it even though fifteen hundred years should be long enough for it to no longer give him pause. His heart picked up its steady rhythm. It was time. They were here. Within seconds, he had jumped down from the rooftop and was running a block over to the alley behind Third Avenue. He heard a scream, angry, defiant. Someone was going to die unless Lance could get there fast enough.

Someone else.

He rounded the dumpsters and leaped over the trash-strewn ground. A young man was trapped by the hulking mass of an Ursus. Before Lance could even question why the monster was there, the Ursus smelled his presence and turned to face him, drawing its sword—its Agrek—the only weapon ever made that could kill a Guardian, forged from the same Cornish silver mines that had given up their last vein of the precious metal before tin was discovered and so sought after. The Ursus screamed its anger, a shrill, deafening noise that echoed off the high buildings surrounding the alley.

Lance raised his own sword a fraction too slow, all the enticement the creature would need. For the first time since he had tried to lift the hefty blade, Lance didn’t put all his weight behind it and just waited for the blow.

The Ursus raised its head, and Lance took another enticing step, waiting for the second the creature dropped the human to claim a bigger prize. The Ursus raised its Agrek, then turned to look at the man, and in that second Lance knew he had made a colossal mistake.

But not why.

The Ursus brought down the blade to the figure curled up on the ground, and Lance reacted with barely a breath to spare. Blade met blade in a scream of metal so loud Lance doubted the very city itself was big enough to contain it. He danced the steps his body had memorized what seemed a hundred lifetimes ago. Soon his actions were not reactive but decisive, and with a flick of Lance’s wrist, the blade slashed the creature’s side. Distraction won, and the beast screamed its rage and left the man it had guarded intent on a new victim. Lance sidestepped and the hulking mass charged at him, all seven feet of slavering, mindless evil, made for one purpose, created by insane jealousy and an unquenchable thirst for revenge. Lance swerved at the last second, and his blade connected with the creature’s arm. More screams echoed down the alley as the Ursus spat and grunted filth and vitriol at him but no intelligible words. Their creator, long since dead, had needed merely a mindless weapon. Swords clashed as they both thrust and danced. The Ursus, stupidly cumbersome, was taking slash upon slash from Lance’s faster, truer aim. Lance bit back his frustration. The first cuts were already healing, and the creature wasn’t slowing or stopping. Their machinelike strength was impervious to most blows, the only possible fatal one straight to their heart, and only from a sword wielded by one of their knights.

Morgan le Fay had not been able to make them totally invincible.

Author Bio:

Victoria Sue fell in love with love stories as a child when she would hide away with her mom’s library books and dream of the dashing hero coming to rescue her from math homework. She never mastered math but never stopped loving her heroes and decided to give them the happy ever afters they fight so hard for.

She loves reading and writing about gorgeous boys loving each other the best—and creating a family for them to adore. Thrilled to hear from her readers, she can be found most days lurking on Facebook where she doesn’t need factor 1000 sun-cream to hide her freckles.

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