Marela's travel group has mysteriously vanished in the forest. Alone and afraid, she stumbles upon an isolated cliff top keep, the home of the wizard AErin. Over the snowy, winter months Marela comes to learn that magic makes more sense than she thought and there's more to AErin than meets the eye.
By the time spring arrives AErin and Marela have wed and she joins him on his yearly jaunt throughout the kingdom, but what happened to her travel group? Even AErin doesn't have the answer. But soon, distractions, like a Roc falling out of the sky, and a dragon that needs slaying, divert them from their search for answers, until Marela is kidnapped.
Who would want to kidnap the wizard's wife? And why does the kidnapping seem to have more to do with Marela herself than with the wizard?
What secret does Marela hold? And what does it have to do with being abandoned in the forest? And why is suddenly everybody involved?
Becky Gauger is a science fiction and reference
librarian in Oklahoma.
Her favorite books are Wendy Pini's Elfquest, Christopher Stasheff's
Warlock series, Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan
Adventures, and, of course, anything by Anne McCaffrey.
Becky claims to have been raised by such beloved TV
series as Star Trek and Doctor Who and is never happier than
when she's sitting with a glass of pop in one hand and a stack of comic books
at the other.
She claims The
Wizard's Wife was inspired by a scene in the Lord of the Rings cartoon where she realized Gandalf couldn't be as
old as he let on. That led to the
question, “Why doesn't the wizard ever get the girl?”
This time, he does.
"Wake up, Marela. Come on, love."
Marela felt the warm brush of lips against hers. Instinctively, she responded. When the lips tried to withdraw, she followed them up, wrapping her arms around her husband's neck and earning a more satisfactory kiss for her efforts. "Are you awake?"
Marela shook her head lazily. "Huh-uh." She cracked her eyes open and groaned. She flopped back onto the bed. "AErin, it's barely twilight! Don't you ever sleep?"
AErin grinned at his wife's grumbling. "Not much," he replied. "Come on. Get up. You promised to help me get the castle ready for summer."
"Can't it wait until the sun is up?"
"No, it can't. We've got work to do." He tossed her robe across her head and turned to leave. When he heard her grousing, he stopped in his tracks, turned around, and pressed her backwards in a kiss that drove all thoughts of sleep right out of her mind.
His eyes twinkled down at her wide-eyed stare as he pulled away. He rubbed his nose against hers. "Good morning," he rumbled in a sexy purr, as if he hadn't just ordered her out of bed. Shivers galloped up and down Marela's spine as he leaned over her.
"That's not fair, you know," she protested in a weak voice.
"Why not?"
She struggled for an answer. "Just because it's not."
"Are you going to come help me pack up my lab?" he asked, not moving.
She sighed in defeat. "Yes."
"Then it's fair enough."
AErin pulled away and Marela restrained herself from socking him. After all, how could she be angry at a man who looked so pleased with himself.
"I left some fruit in the kitchen for you," he said as she struggled into her robe. "And it's going to take most of the day to get packed away. It's bound to be a dirty job so don't bother with a long bath." He leaned back out through his lab doorway, a devilish twinkle in his eye. "I'll make sure you get clean later tonight." He disappeared into his lab. "We'll have to inspect and set up the wind harness tomorrow if we're going to catch the right wind."
"What's this 'wind harness' you keep telling me about?" she called after him as she threw the covers aside and reached for her comb.
He stuck his head back in the door. "You'll love it, love. I'm going to teach you to fly."
