Our house is undergoing renovations. The painters are kicking us out. We are leaving for a couple of weeks, and we will try to keep up with the installments, but we might not be able to pull it off. Half of the house is packed, and we are both really tired, so we will see how it goes. While we are gone, Mod R will be bringing you fun posts, so don’t forget to check the blog.
When we last left our crew at the Inn, Dina, Karat, and the werewolf fought the corrupted ad-hal. The Sovereign’s date with Ellenda is looming ever closer. Will our trio get back to the inn in time for Dina to fulfill her role as an innkeeper and will they survive that journey? Stay tuned for the next exciting installment… Okay I will stop now.
The door leading from Baha-char to Gertrude Hunt swung open, and Karat and I staggered through it, smeared with blood and fetid fluids and carrying the unconscious werewolf between us, her arms draped over our shoulders. We took a step down the hallway and ran straight into Sean.
“God damn it,” he snarled, grabbing the werewolf woman out of our arms.
“We don’t have time for this. She’s critical, and Karat is injured.”
“I’m perfectly fine.” Karat gave me a trademark vampire knight sneer.
Of course, she was. The left side of her face was the color of a pomegranate, she was taking short shallow breaths, and her armor would need hours of repairs. Vampires didn’t bruise easily. She either took a hard hit or landed on her face.
I opened the tunnel to the medward in the floor. Sean lifted the werewolf like she was a child and started down. “Once this is handled, we will make time.”
It sounded like a threat.
The medward was hidden in the lower levels of the inn, just under the main floor. A sterile room that could be hermetically sealed off in an emergency, it housed a decontamination shower, a storage with six different stasis pods, and until recently, a single ancient med unit that was barely up to the task.
The werewolf was on the verge of dying, and Karat’s injuries were urgent. With only one med unit, we would’ve been in trouble, but fortunately, we had junked it three months ago and replaced it with three brand new, state-of-the art robotic stations, which was why our little infirmary now qualified to be a medward instead of the medbay. They waited for us, three complex hospital beds with elaborate frames.
The moment Sean lowered the werewolf into the nearest med unit, it unfolded like one of those three-dimensional greeting cards. Scanners slipped out from under the bottom of the bed, sliding diagnostic lights over her body, and robotic arms sprung from the frame, stripping her clothes. The results of the scans flashed above the unit. Three broken ribs, shredded lung, internal bleeding… Oh wow. The corrupted ad-hal had sliced right through her hardsuit and her ribs like they were tissue paper.
Ironically, hardsuits were considered soft armor, soft being a relative term. There were many variations of soft armor, but the essential requirements dictated that it was flexible, close fitting, and able to stop a typical blade. I could hack at the werewolf woman all day with an ordinary knife and not leave a mark. One look at her chest told me her suit was beyond repair.
Karat touched the House Krahr crest embedded in her breastplate. Her syn-armor came apart at the seams. She lowered it to the floor. Oh. It was worse than I thought.
Normally getting a vampire out of their armor was an impossible task. They took it off only in the privacy of their quarters, for rest and intimacy. For them, the armor was a second skin that kept them safe, and when they were severely injured, they fought to keep it on even when it was illogical. My future-brother-in-law was the perfect example. The last time he was at the inn, we were attacked by a World Killer, a terrible organism that would’ve devoured the entire planet if Arland hadn’t poisoned it with his blood. The World-Killer toxins triggered a catastrophic response in Arland, and huge bloody blisters formed all over his body. He was dying, he knew he was dying, and it took all of us begging to convince him to get out of the armor so we could try to treat his wounds.
The dark grey suit Karat wore underneath was thankfully blood-free, but her bones had to be broken. Nothing short of that would’ve gotten her to strip. Even so, it was a stunning show of trust.
“If I fall asleep, wake me up,” she said. “I can’t miss the date.”
“We will,” I promised.
She climbed into the unit, and it sprang into action. The scan flashed on the holographic screen above the bed. She had a broken rib, and there were early signs of sepsis.
The new med units were a gift from Maud. My sister was now the Maven of House Krahr, which meant she was in charge of all of their diplomatic efforts, and her position came with a significant salary. She bought the units for us with her new Maven money and had them sent over on one of Arland’s scout ships. According to Maud, Gertrude Hunt was seeing more action than an average vampire stronghold on a hostile planet and thinking of us trying to cope with our outdated med unit kept her from sleeping at night.
When I was a kid, Maud would buy me cute clothes at discount sites online. Now she bought me advanced medical equipment. Nothing really changed. My big sister was still trying to take care of me.
Sean stepped in front of me, his face harsh. “Dina. Decontamination shower.”
I touched the nasty goo drying on my skin, looked at my stained fingers for a second, and went to clean up.
Ten minutes later, I emerged with clean hair and skin and wearing another robe over my shorts and a T-shirt. The runoff from the shower drained into a tank under the floor. The fetid slime I washed off my body felt inert, but I heated the tank until all of the dirty water evaporated and then flushed the reservoir with acid just to be on the safe side.
Karat was napping in her med unit with a dreamy smile on her face. Sean was staring at the werewolf woman, Gorvar sitting by his side.
I came to stand next to them. “How is she?”
“She’ll live.”
“Karat will be happy. She insisted on slinging her over her shoulders and jogging almost the whole way home with her.”
“Tell me,” he said. “All of it.”
I did.
He looked up at the ceiling, his face unreadable.
“I’m sorry,” I told him.
“For what?”
“I had no idea she would jump from the roof and start a fight.”
It had been a priceless opportunity to communicate with Wilmos’ kidnapper. I didn’t even know if the corrupted ad-hal could speak or understand me, but I would’ve tried my hardest. My parents were missing, and I knew exactly how Sean felt. Wilmos wasn’t just a friend, he was almost a grandfather to him. I couldn’t do anything about my parents, but I could give finding Wilmos my all. Every crumb of information was precious. It killed me that I didn’t get anything more out of the corrupted ad-hal.
Sean exhaled. “Nothing it could tell us would be worth you getting hurt.”
“I wasn’t hurt.”
“I smelled your blood when you came in, and I can feel the way the inn is hovering around you. How much magic did it cost you?”
“More than I thought I had,” I said quietly.
And I shouldn’t have been able to do it. The last time I had tried using my magic outside of the inn in this way left me on the verge of death, gasping for breath in my car in the Costco parking lot. If Sean hadn’t come to get me, I might have died there. I sunk a lot more than that into killing the corrupted ad-hal, but I was still walking and talking. Did my power grow without me realizing it?
Sean shook his head. “It was enough to save you, and Karat, and her. Whoever she is.”
“Have you met her before? I mean before she showed up at the inn? Maybe during one of the expeditions with Wilmos?”
“If I did, I don’t remember.”
It didn’t surprise me. When werewolves encountered Sean, they either stared at him with worshipful eyes, hit on him, or tried to fight him. He made it a point to interact with his people as little as possible.
“We’ve discussed this before. There will be times I will be in danger.”
“I would like those times to be less frequent. This was avoidable. That woman came to you. You accepted her terms. You didn’t push back.”
“You saw the recording. There was no choice. I’ve met her, and I stand by my decision. There was no way she would ever set foot in the inn or let me change the location of the meeting. You should have seen her eyes, Sean.”
“I don’t care about her eyes.”
He stepped closer and kissed me. I tasted Sean, and the forest inside him swallowed me whole. The trees closed in, sheltering me, and the terrifying scarred wolf who lived in there wrapped himself around me to keep me safe.
He hugged me to him, his strong arms warm. There was no place safer.
“Were you worried?” I asked softly.
“A little.”
I leaned my head against his chest. “I was worried too.”
In Sean’s perfect world, we would live happily ever after in complete safety and nothing bad would injure us. But even he knew that a future like that wasn’t just unrealistic, it would be boring. It just wasn’t who we were. Even before we were together, he was a werewolf soldier looking for adventure, and I was an innkeeper who took it upon herself to police the neighborhood. We’d had multiple chances to get out and settle into a more peaceful life, and we’d rolled right past them. It wasn’t that we looked for trouble. It was that we didn’t back down when it found us.
“I’m okay,” I told him.
He squeezed me to him.
“I came back in one piece. I met the woman, I fought the corrupted ad-hal, and I am still here.”
He kissed me again.
“If you keep doing this, we’re going to miss the Sovereign’s date,” I murmured.
“It would be worth it.”
“We can’t. He might get murdered.”
He sighed. “Do you believe the scaled woman?”
“Yes. We need to verify all that, but if it’s true, that knocks at least one potential threat off the list. Besides, the fewer candidates remain, the faster we can get to the conclusion.”
“I agree that every candidate eliminated gets us closer to the end of this. The sooner the better. But, again, it wasn’t worth you getting hurt.”
“Even if it saved the Sovereign’s life?”
“Even then.”
I pretended to sigh. “I can’t do anything right.”
Sean bared his teeth. “You kicked ass. You beat it, outside of the inn. That’s fucking amazing.”
He was proud of me. That made everything better. “Tell me more how amazing I am.”
“So amazing.”
I smiled.
“That thing did a number on Karat, and she’s good,” Sean said.
“She is very good.”
“It would have killed her.” He nodded at the werewolf woman. “And you broke it like a twig. If I was the one who kidnapped Wilmos, I would be worried right now. This did not go the way they expected.”
No, it didn’t. “I wish I knew what the hair meant. Is it ‘hurry up and come get him’ or is it ‘do as we say or he’s dead?’”
“No way to tell. Whatever animated those creatures doesn’t think like us. The only thing we can do is to proceed as if he’s alive and can still be rescued.”
The inn chimed. It was time for the Sovereign’s first date. I sighed and went to wake Karat up.
#
The broadcasting schedule of the Dominion had a definite pattern. Formal occasions of little interest, like the reintroduction of the candidates, were the most edited and presented to the audience with a significant delay. The trials were almost live, with only a few minutes of lag to make the emergency adjustments. The dates with individual candidates were practically in real time. Kosandion’s PR chief had installed a tight beam transmitter that actually shot data from the inn through the portal to the Dominion to avoid any delay. I had no idea that kind of technology even existed. The cost had to be staggering.
Nothing could go wrong.
When Orata realized just how much power the innkeepers had over our environment, she actually hopped up and down in excitement. Thanks to Kosandion’s PR chief, every candidate was asked for their preferred location for their date. Ellenda had chosen trees. No other guidance. Just one word: trees.
I took them to the orchard.
Back when I was growing up in my parents’ inn, I was responsible for the gardens. They were my favorite part of the innkeeping. I’d been an innkeeper for about four years now, and my orchard was a place of beauty. From the street, it looked like any typical backyard garden you might find in a house with a bit of acreage. Ornamental shrubs, a few apple trees, some oaks. If you worked your way through the bushes, you would run into my camouflage wall, a tall barrier designed to perfectly mimic the shrubs around it. Very thin and undetectable from the street, it changed with its environment and ran all along the property, keeping the actual orchard out of view.
Kosandion waited in the inner orchard now, the one nobody except the guests and us ever saw. Tall apple trees flanked a wide stone path. They had finished blooming, and their branches bore tiny fruit. The sun shone through the green leaves. Flowers grew between the trees and along the path’s edges, raspberry-colored coras, purslane in every shade from pink to lemon yellow, zinnias bursting with magenta, pink, and crimson, and finally, in brightly lit spots, red yuccas. Ruby-throated hummingbirds hovered near the tiny yucca blooms. The air smelled of flowers and summer grass.
“Could you put up the screen please?” Orata whispered through my earpiece.
I had my doubts about the screen. The date seemed like it should be a private affair, but Kosandion had asked me to defer to Orata’s wishes.
I moved my hand and a massive branch slipped through the canopy and grew a screen on it. The view of the Ocean Dining Hall appeared on it. We had packed all the delegates into it, with snacks and refreshments. The live feed from the date was projected onto several massive screens, so they would see every moment in real time. Sean parked himself at the back wall. He wore a grey robe and turned his usual spear into a staff for the occasion. Originally, he was going to chaperone the date, but I was too tapped out to handle a dining room filled with that many creatures right now.
A stir ran through the delegates. People and creatures turned.
Karat entered the room.
Repairing syn-armor was a delicate art requiring years of practice. Karat didn’t have time to fix it, so she didn’t bother. Her once pristine black armor was scuffed. A big rip crossed her chest, and two smaller ones marked her ribs. The injury to the left side of her face faded from bright red to a somewhat less fresh but obvious bruise, and she wore it like the badge of honor.
Dagorkun turned purple, from jealousy or curiosity, I couldn’t tell.
Karat raised her chin and marched to the observers’ table. House Meer practically dislocated their necks trying to get a better look.
“Quite an entrance,” Kosandion murmured next to me.
“Look at Bestata’s face,” I said.
Bestata’s eyes narrowed. She focused on Karat like a tiger who just saw another tiger bleeding from its wounds and was desperately trying to figure out what kind of predator made them.
Six tiny globes, about the size of a walnut, rose into the area, floating around us and above. Orata’s cameras.
“You are live,” Orata said into my earpiece.
Right. No more private conversations. I muted the sound on the screen showing the dining hall so it wouldn’t interfere.
The back door of the inn opened, and Tony emerged, leading Ellenda into the light. She still wore the gold paint and her rough woven dark garment. Her expression was flat.
Tony melted back into the dark entrance. He would be going back to the Ocean Dining Hall to help Sean.
Ellenda approached Kosandion. He inclined his head a couple of inches. “Welcome, kalenti.”
Elenda bowed her head slowly. No response. Off to an awesome start.
“Shall we walk?” he asked.
“Yes.”
The two of them strolled down the path, leaving about a foot of space between them. I followed a couple of steps behind. Orata’s orbs followed. My screen did too, sliding from branch to branch.
“What branch do you hail from, kalenti?” Kosandion asked. His voice was calm and light. Reassuring with its warmth.
“My people come from Sahava.”
“The land of cliffs and dark forests, where the glowing ava flowers bloom in the deep.”
A little bit of life came back into Ellenda’s voice. “Yes. Have you ever been?”
“My mother took me there when I was young. We spent four days in the House on the Cliff. I remember sleeping in the spider cocoon hammocks suspended over the raging sea. I thought it was the best bed ever invented.”
Kosandion chuckled softly.
“I’m surprised. The cocoon hammocks scare outsiders.”
“I’m not an outsider. I’m a child of the Dominion and a child of the Uma. One doesn’t exclude the other.”
“I meant no offense.” Caution iced over her voice.
Kosandion offered her another smile. “I took none.”
They reached the pond where the stone path curved around the water. The pond took up a whole acre, a shallow, crystal-clear body of water with a large flat rock jutting a few feet from its left shore. Little fishes darted in the cool depths, and brilliant water lilies bloomed on the surface. Stone benches along the path offered a place to rest. This was Sean’s favorite spot. When the inn had a lull of visitors, we would come here, swim in the pond, lay out on the hot rock, and drink beer.
Kosandion and Ellenda continued down the path.
“Do you truly mean that?” Ellenda asked softly. “Are you a child of the Uma?”
Kosandion pulled his left sleeve up and raised his arm. A row of intricate white tattoos shot through with gold marked his dark skin.
Ellenda stopped and turned to face him, a resolute expression on her face. He pivoted toward her. They stood on the path, perfectly still, the same straight posture. In that moment, the two of them looked like they belonged to the same people.
Ellenda took a deep breath.
I braced for an attack.
“Tell me what troubles you, kalenti. You can tell me anything.”
“Anything?” she asked.
“Anything at all. This is our moment. My time and my attention are yours.”
Ellenda exhaled and shut her eyes.
If she moved a muscle in his direction, I would drop her right through the floor. I had expanded a lot of magic, but it wouldn’t take much, and my reaction time was just fine.
The Uma woman opened her eyes. “Do not choose me.”
On the screen behind them, the Ocean Dining Hall went perfectly still. Nobody moved.
“What do you mean?” Kosandion asked.
“Do not choose me. I don’t want to be your wife.”
Oh wow. I did not expect that.
“My branch owes a debt to the outsiders,” she said. “I am here to repay it.”
Duty over happiness. Of course.
“My presence was required. I do not want to marry you. I do not want to stay in the Dominion. So please, do not choose me.”
A silence fell. Birds chirped in the trees, a fish broke the surface of the water and splashed, but the two people in front of me were perfectly still and silent.
On the screen, the faces of the Frowns delegation looked contorted, some with alarm, others with outrage. Their leader clenched his fists on the table.
A subtle change came over Kosandion. He seemed larger somehow, formidable, majestic, no longer a man but an embodiment of power.
“What is it you truly want, daughter of the Uma?” he asked.
Ellenda opened her mouth and then spoke, as if jumping off a cliff. “I want to go home to my planet and the man I love.”
“It is done,” the Sovereign said.
There was a resounding finality to his voice. Goosebumps ran down my arms.
“Innkeeper, take Ellenda of the Uma to the portal. Once she passes through it, the Dominion will chart a ship to take her back to her homeworld. No citizen of the Dominion will ever trouble her or her branch again.”
On the screen one of the Frown delegates, a man wearing white and green, stood up and walked down the aisle to the door.
Where the hell was he going?
The man reached the table where the Holy Ecclesiarch sat with his entourage.
A transparent column shot out of the ground, sealing the holy man and his retinue inside. Wind jerked their hair as Sean flushed the inside of it with fresh air. At the same time a second column caught the man from the Frown’s delegation, cutting him off from the dining hall. He jerked and collapsed.
I killed the mute.
The sound roared in, beings jumping to their feet.
Sean leaped over the tables and landed in the middle of the floor, his grey robe flaring around him. The staff in his hand split, releasing a brilliant green spear head. His mouth opened, and he roared in the deep snarling voice of an alpha-strain werewolf. It was the same voice that had thundered over the battlefields of Nexus.
“Freeze!”
The three hundred creatures in the dining hall stopped as one.
Happy Friday all!
The title is yours 🙂
Thanks, Mod R. I don‘t understand this focus on commenting first, but timing works out sometimes.
I do want to thank HA for sharing such an awesome story with us all, particularly when there is so much going on in their world right now.
And thank you as well, Mod R for keeping the BDH under (somewhat) control. 😀
+1 Thanks
SAME
O yea! Thanks to HA for a fantastic story!
+1
+1 More thanks 🙂
+1
I don’t understand the need to comment first. I’d rather savour the latest instalment that HA have gifted to us, once, twice, many times. Thank you to HA for the highlight of my Australian Saturday morning. It is always a joy when I remember that it is Sweep day and an absolute pleasure to read what is written for us. Thank you HA. Thank you.
Hello, I completely agree with you. I don’t get the being first thing, I’m here for the story, which is fantastic. I’ve read a LOT of books and HA are among my favorite authors. Congrats for getting in at the top with this question, I haven’t been able to, although I doubt we’ll actually get an answer🙂
I don’t know how they manage to produce so much quality writing in such a short time. I hope they don’t burn themselves out.
Happy reading, R Lyons
+1 Reading these chapters is the absolute highlight of my week most weeks right now. Sheer bliss.
If you guys don’t get the first thing, don’t do it. Other people like it. It’s a game and it’s not hurting anyone. Please let people have their fun. It’s in short supply right now. 🙂
That Part Yeah.
P.S I Love the Story
🤗
Heh control, herding cats. Not bad Mod R.
+1 and yes yes YES!
First?
Very close!
Wow closest I have ever been!
First
No 😉
Wow!! Top 10 WhooHoo!!
Fantastic chapter. Hope the renovations go well and end quickly. Looking forward to the next installment when it is put up. Have a wonderful weekend.
+1,000
+1 🤗
+1 😊
Please don’t feel pressure about the installments. While I love them, I will wait as long as needed. 🤗
+1
Not even trying…and I managed third? Or is my Kindle feed screwy?
Well, there had to be at least one who didn’t want the prize!
Top 10 maybe??
Wow. Great cliffhanger.
And best wishes for as restful vacation to House Andrews.
+1!
Eee, what a cliffhanger!
Thank you!! Also, may your home renovations go smoothly…
Your….your house renovations go smoothly…..🙄
I knew what you meant :D! It’s fixed
Oh how wonderful!
Fantastic as always.
wow! didn’t see that coming. In the first 5 or 10! Yeah
Happy days are here again!
This was fantastic. I didn’t expect Ellenda, or any candidate really, to ask to go home. Now I need to review everything that was said at Baha Char.
I love it when the story direction surprises me! House Andrews is very good at that. 🙂 I’m still wildly curious about the gold paint, though. Maybe Ellenda was mourning for the potential loss of her old life?
That’s what I thought, too. Mourning the man she loves.
Oh MY! So much mystery to muse over and so much action to be excited over! As ever the sweet little moments Sean and Dina find make me so happy, especially as they’re sprinkled in between each of them getting their moments of absolutely badassery.
And oooofta Kosandian’s reaction was certainly interesting there.
Best of luck with renovations! Wouldn’t it be nice if they could happen with Gertrude Hunt’s speed….
Awesome Awesome
Why stop now? You are certainly entitled to be as punchy as you like if you’ve been doing what you describe. I’m certain I wasn’t the only one who was laughing when I got to that point.
On the other hand, I hope you get a nice relaxing couple of weeks. If anybody has earned that, ….
+1
So happy I checked the blog! I need to re-read this starting from the first post — it’s so darn good!!
I haven’t had any coffee yet, so I am not particularly articulate at this point, but I loved today’s chapter. Everything about it makes me happy.
I hope the renos go well and that the old adage about a change being as good as a rest holds true!
Always a cliff hanger. I forget which author I follow talked about always ending a chapter on a hanging point, so you go start the next chapter immediately, instead of being able to pause the book and put it down.
Love the recovery scene from the previous chapter. Seeing a correlation between Dina getting stronger as she uses her magic more especially outside the Inn, and Maud having access to ad-Hal magic on the vampire planet.
I also caught the parallel between Dina and Maud, and how their powers are growing. I hope this thread is developed more as the story continues.
Hm. Perhaps this was also the case with the parents and that is why they were taken or went away and why the corrupted ad hal’s keep coming after Dina.
I think this is how ad hals are forged: a series of escalating magic challenges of power and will that are either successful or deadly. I wonder what the success rate is.
Do you think Dina’s growing power outside GH is because of the Inn seed that almost took her with it when it died?
Awesome! I am constanty surprised ( in a good way)
I hope all the painting and renovations go smoothly and you all get to relax.
Fantastic! I can’t wait for the next chapter, but look after yourselves and hope the reno’s go quickly!
Wow!!
What a tasty segment! Now we know why Ellenda was so solemn. I hope she is able to be with her true love. Guessing that was who she was mourning.
Posting this chapter is really appreciated. Hope the reno is going well.
Thanks for the friday fix 🙂
Wow, wow, wow! I love reading each section as you present them to us, and happily await the upcoming release. And the ending of this section, just imaging Sean, spear in hand, roaring…. Fantastic, thank you!
Ahhh what a cliffhanger! I gobbled that chapter up. Ellenda was my favorite, but I’m glad she gets to go home and be happy.
Hope the home reno goes swiftly and smoothly!
Love it!
“Even before we were together, he was a werewolf soldier looking for adventure, and I was an innkeeper who took it upon herself to police the neighborhood.”
A more perfect summary of Dina and Sean I cannot imagine.
Wonderful chapter. Interesting that Dina only wondered about how she did what she did AFTER she did it. Love Karat’s entrance to the dining area with her fight aftermath proudly on display.
And oh, Kosandion. There’s a leader who really does care about his people. Team Frowns is in for it.
Dagorkun turning purple when he realised Karat was hurt…I smell worry for his crush!
Maybe he was mad that he couldn’t get in on the action with ad-hal.
Just think about what Soren would say and do if Karat and Dagorkun got together. Coffee anyone? 😀
Didn’t Karat wonder what to do with the 10 pounds of coffee she got from Arland?
Make a full pot of it, and give to Soren, then tell him of the boy she has brought home. 😉
It might be a two pot deal. One for before the announcement and one after. 😉
This is so true. Soren will need it.
Didn’t Karat gift this to the bride? They tried to get Maud drunk, and about lost their minds when she added milk?
No. The bridal party had their own source, not anyone’s secret stash. Karat still has her special blend.
Yep. Red would just mean that he was mad he missed it. Purple? He’s got it bad. 🙂
Except he’s from a warrior society in which women are equally warriors. Wouldn’t he just accept it as her competence and be impressed and proud if it’s the case he has a thing for her?
I agree – her competence means something. Not only did he miss the action, he’s now jealous that a fellow warrior had a marvelous chance to prove herself and maybe even conflicted because he realizes he admires her.
Ship under sail, all flags flying. 🙂
means that along with being mad t, jealous of a rival warrior, and maybe even realizing he admires her.
Me, too! Talk about a power couple!
Yes to all of this. Karat rocks. I suspect she would beat the cr@p out of Conan the Otrakar candidate should the need arise.
+1
Nice installment. Thanks. Good luck with the moving and painting. I’m two months from exactly the same scenario.
Ooooh! Sean’s turn to be a total badass!!!
Hope all goes well with the house and you get some rest after packing the other half. We will be here when all is sorted, more than likely re-reading all things that you write.
Oooh. This is some good stuff. Love it
Ooohhhhh! Am I a glutton for complaining that the chapter ended just when it was getting good? Cue House Andrews’ evil grin, I’m sure!
Another great chapter, thankyou!!! Hope the packing goes well, and that you get a well earned rest – you surely deserve it ♥️
I literally screamed when I reached the cliffhanger ending. 😛 Channelling one of Orro’s dramatic Shakespeare moments there. Lol
What a cliffhanger! I smiled at Maud watching over Dina with the new medbeds. No matter where Maud is in the universe, she is watching over her little sister. 🙂
One date done…more to come. Tune in for the next episode of the Bachelor – Universe.
Good luck with the renovations!
I too loved the big sister Maud caregiving role…
Also, she probably figured they were a good investment, vampires being vampires and Inns being Inns.
+1 And I love your “Tune in for the next episode of the Bachelor — Universe.”!
Excellent.
It just keeps getting more intense! Wheeeee! Good luck with the home renovations!
Thank you for this installment! Good luck with all the things. Renovations are a drag!
Also, I am excited because I am in the top 50 posts! Hee hee!
Oh wow!
First off, I hope the renos go smoothly. I’m sure ModR will take good care of the BDH kids while Mom and Dad are busy. 🙂 We will try to behave.
Favorite bits:
— Tell me more how amazing I am.
— Maud’s gifts.
— Karat rockin’ the beat-up look.
— Kosandian’s kindness.
— FREEZE.
Looking forward to the werewolf understanding just how badly she has underestimated Dina. Also more Gaston.
+1,000
Most excellent! Thank you so much!!
That was an AMAZING chapter. So so good.
Btw I’m loving the intro recaps every week. Don’t stop please. (Though it always triggers a drawn out Pigs In Spaaaaaaace in my mind)
The recaps remind me a bit of SOAP. If they were snarky, it would be even more obvious. But I still love them regardless.
Nothing like a stroll in the garden.
“I can’t do anything right.” Heh … you tease him, Dina! Enjoy your time away from your house. Thanks for today’s installment!
Good luck with the renovations! And thanks for the new installment!
So Team Frowns wanted to force…something. But what?
“Prior to entering the spouse selection, each delegation was required to list a minor and a major ask. If they made it to the finale, the Dominion would honor their minor asks, but only one delegation would ever be granted their major request.” from Chapter 11 https://www.ilona-andrews.com/2022/chapter-11-part-1/
They probably thought that dangling an Uma beauty in front of him would be irresistible and they would get both their interests seen to. It looks like it really didn’t pay off!
That would only really work if their candidate was willing. Which she wasn’t.
And, my guess, is that Kos wants full consent with his spouse. They have to want to parent his child, not just dial it in because they were forced to by outside parties.
Does this mean that Ellenda just used up their minor ask for them so they don’t get that either? (evil laugh)
Kosandion seemed really displeased and making trouble for the dying High Ecclesiarch? I don’t think getting favours is in the cards atm.
This has been buzzing in my head for awhile. Kos referred to Amphie as “a safe girl, one you take to meet family.” We know that Kos’s father is dead, his mom might be dead, or she might’ve returned to the Uma. We only know about one sibling of his father, and Kos is visiting her home with the “safe girl.”
True, but where is the chemistry so far? Amphie didn’t exactly rock the debate. Kosandion seems like an outside-the-box thinker. I’ll be very surprised if Amphie goes home with him.
So would I. I think Amphie has been molded into what her molders think is a “proper” consort. She is capable of telling you what “Much Ado About Nothing” is about, but is unable to voice the deeper meaning. She would dial it in as a spouse.
I wonder if there is more to Amphie and she is presenting the “this is what I am supposed to say,” but might slip and say what she really thinks if pushed in a challenge.
Oh my goodness so good!
Awesome thanks
I love this book – it gets more interesting with every chapter!
THAT was AMAZING! You did that while your week was in chaos?!! I bow to your greatness, House Andrews.
Hear, hear.
+100
Keeps getting better and better every chapter!!!
Ahh Cliffhanger…..
OMG chaos week and we still get an Innkeeper chapter as well as a Ruby Fever excerpt!!!!! I so needed this today. Thank you HA! BTW this week being chaotic and never ending seems to be a theme. Feels like three weeks rolled into one, the universe is tricking us.
Ruby Fever excerpt? Where please, I haven’t seen it and can’t seem to find it on the site.
There hasn’t been a new one as far as I’m aware, I think maybe Mariette discovered the one on the home page 🙂 https://ilona-andrews.com/featured-release/
Thanks Mod R for calming every heart of the BDH with that comment. Otherwise all of us would be saying “what?! Where?!” 😀
The countdown clock is up and running on the home page. Whoo-hoo!
Yep the home page! On my way to the Friday installment. I was so excited!
Ah, thanks. Also, would you please email me privately so I can report a technical issue not covered on the contact page? I searched the site but couldn’t find your email, although I know you’ve provided it in blog posts before.
You can contact me at modr@ilona-andrews. com 🙂
Wow. There’s so much about this chapter to love! And to ponder … The intro recaps are hilarious; as others have said, I hope you continue them.
Please take care of yourselves first; we of the BDH greedily clamor for more but we will wait. Although it’s a working vacation, I hope it refreshes and relaxes you, and that your work on the house goes smoothly.
Oh my. It just keeps getting better an better. Thank you for sharing this.
My renovation happens in October, so you experience should help me prepare.
Your posting are a wonderful gift, so I gratefully receive them whenever they arrive.
woo hooo!
I was having a long Facebook break. When I went back I was so excited to see a new Innkeeper! I am truly enjoying the new book, thank you so much 😃. The best part of renos is when they are done. So happy for you to be able to afford people to do it for you in such a short frame of time. We do it ourselves and are currently in month 3 of a complete bath and back entry remodel. Between bad backs and shoulders getting in a few hours a day is doing good. Enjoy your break from your home, do something different and fun, every day is a new adventure just like your stories!
Ahhhhhhhh!
Its such a good thing I’m home alone. I yelled quite out loud when I realized the chapter ended!!!
My exciting little break from reality is over…
And you KNOW it was a great read when the BDH is far too excited to comment on the awesomeness of the chapter to play the ‘am I 1st’ game! lol!
So awesome
Thank you!
Thank you so much for this installment. It was unexpected and fantastic. Good luck with the other stuff you’ve got to do the next few weeks.
I do not have adequate words to express my delight and and enjoyment. Thank House Andrews
A cracking chapter – thank you! Is Dina playing with the laws of physics and stretching outside like she does inside the walls of the Inn, or is the camouflage wall there to give privacy and hide the fact that the orchard is so lush and the outside footprint is the same side as ‘normal’ humans would expect it to be?
Hope the house renovations are smooth and painless!
As always so good!! Also am I the only one shipping Karat and Dagorkun now?? I would read a whole book on them. Imagine the uproar between the vampires and the Horde if that ever happens…
Heh 😀
Absolutely not! Karakun is sailing strong!
Nice shipping name:Karakun. Sounds like a proper Vampire or Otrokar name.
Glad to see the chapter. I hope the outsiders are shaking in their boots; Kos doesn’t like that but of news at all.
Definitely better than Dagorat! 🥰
Dina and Arland will have to supply the coffee for Soren and the rest of the family, and the Horde will have their version of alcohol. The wailing and gnashing of teeth on both sides commence.
Nope, lots of shipping of that one.
Ah, renovations. Sympathies, and may all go well.
Thank you for making our week happier with more Innkeeper. 🙂
Not just 300 frozen … the entire BDH can’t move until the next installment!
Hope the renovations go better than you can imagine!
+1
Nice BruceR!
Thanks Author Overlords! Good luck with the renovations and we’ll be here whenever you get back.
This
This was awesome! Thank you!
Oh my!!!! What happens next???
Also, I wonder if the Horde and vampires are compatible, is there’s something between Dogarkun and Karat?
I believe we’ve been shipping them since the beginning. (Because, of course, we are the BDH and all of us have opinions.)
If you know, you know.
They’ve been giving LURVE vibes since the first portal stare down 😀
Wait! Am I confused? (Wouldn’t be the first time). Is D the son of the Gifters of Ghost to House Krahr? If not, forget what I just said. (Sigh)
Dagorkun is the son of the Khanum of the Hope Crushing Horde who lead the negotiations for Nexus in Sweep in Peace 🙂
So how WAS from the family that gifted Attura to House Krahr. Thank you for fixing my brain.
There are half-human/half-vampires. I don’t know if there are human/otrokar variants. If there are a vampire/otrokar could definitely be possible.
AAARRGGHHH!
Of all of you write-it-as-you-go posts over a couple of books, this one got to me.
I am so wanting the next bit!
I love this so much!!
Happy Innkeeper Friday!!!
Fantastic cliffhanger and great chapter! Nice build on the tension both in this segment and overall.
Is it just me or does anyone else believe Innkeeper could be an excellent Sci-Fi series? I see 3 or 4 seasons of 10-15 episodes each and given the current state of CGI could be excellently done if they didn’t botch the screenplay.
I have so wanted this as a Sci-Fi series. Thought it would be fantastic from the very first book. Loads of uniqueness and visually impactful.
I love every one of the images / drawings they have added. My brain says more, more, more.
Visually stunning, complex world building, so many different storylines to follow!
Oh my goodness, yes!! It would make a great Sci-Fi series, if done right: good actors, no cheesy sets, decent character makeup/masks/prosthetics/CGI. I would watch that over and over!
In my mind, it’s not a true sci-fi genre. Others might call it a (sci-fi) romance. I see it more as a Sci-Fi Fantasy because it includes magic. But in my booklist, I’ve put it under Supernatural because of the different species and not much space traveling.
Yes. It would be technically challenging but the story would work well.
Some might question my sanity, but I think Claudia Black would make a marvelous Caldenia. Yes, Ms. Black is much younger, but she can do the predatory outlook and the confident arrogance juuuust right.
Team Frowns. Trying to remember what was written about them. Obviously not from Uma as I first thought. Gold paint is now explained. I was getting serious Tuptim vibes glad the Emperor was sensitive to her plight and maybe it was win win because he did not want team frowns to win
Team Frowns are one of 2 teams from the Dominion (Team Smiles and their girl next door candidate Amphie is the second one)
They are sislaf (the main race of the Dominion) and are from the planet Kyporo- they have a long standing rivalry with the other Dominion team, the two planets attacked each other before.
I made a brief summary of all the teams and their candidates here, I hope it will help 🙂 https://www.ilona-andrews.com/2022/intergalactic-bachelor-the-reckoning/
Thank you
Oops clarifications. Uma reminded me of Tuptim. For political reasons and because not knowing what teams friend requests are there may valet d reasons Kos may not want to fulfill their request.
Great chapter Thank you.
Take a break. You deserve it and the BDH will all still be here waiting with bated breath. Lol.
What she said!
Oh my goodness, SOOOO good. While I liked Ellenda, I am happy she will be happy and with the man she loves
Oh man, what an amazing plot twist and cliff hanger! Can’t wait to find out what the Frowns team member thought he was going to do. Thank you!!!
Apparently this is a different female werewolf than the one that faced the sphinx? I had just assumed it was the same one.
Poor Dagorkun. He knows he missed out on an amazing fight. I wonder how he will handle the disappointment.
Packing up the house sounds so darn annoying – I had to do that and move all the furniture for the new carpet installation years ago and it was tiring to say the least, so I can definitely commiserate. Hope you’ve found a nice/fun place to stay for the time being! Of course, you will be coming home to the chore of unpacking, but at least the house will look good, eh?
It is the same female werewolf 🙂
But Sean said he didn’t know her? I’ve been reading through all the comments to look for discussion on this point because I am confused! 😊
Dina meant from before she started creating trouble for them, like from the time when Sean was working for Wilmos. In book time, it’s only been about a week since her first appearance, so it’s a bit more obvious when you read the chapters all in one.
But it will be clarified in the edits 🙂
It’s the same female werewolf. She knows they’re the only ones who can help Wilmos. So she keeps hanging around the inn’s entrance in Baha-char.
Dina was asking if Sean knows her from his time traveling the galaxy and with Wilmos place.
Is there a picture of Karat?
Ilona just freshly created it 🙂
Awesome. That vampire glower comes through so clearly …
Augh! Auto-correct! +glower not flower.
thought you were getting poetic on me 😀
I’ll fix.
Thank you kindly, oh most patient and kind of moderators. 🙂
Ok. I need to stop typing. -kid +kind.
Perfect!
Perfect!!!!!
Fridays are a gift because of these installments- thank you!!!!
Have fun in your exile/vacation. House renovations are PIAs. I’m loving the chapters, but, dang I want the whole book so I can just sit down and read it!
More, more, more. When you are able to get us more. I told my sister this morning that she would love the new Innkeeper when it comes out. She doesn’t like to read a chapter at a time. I’m loving it, while being tortured at the same time by always wanting more. So good. Thank you. This book is really compelling.
My sister is the same way. She’s planning to read the whole book instead of chapter by chapter.
Noooo!!! Why?? So good 😀 looking forward to the next chapter.
Wow, thanks Maud! 3 new med units! Plus Karat out of armor! Whoa!!
I’m loving the story so much. Kosandion is awesome. Caldenia must be so proud of him. 🙂
Side note: the pictures for each chapter are awesome. Maybe when the book is published you can include them for each chapter? They really help set the tone.
FYI: I have goosebumps all over my body. Wow guys. You are So Great!
AHHHH! I’m going to die waiting for the resolution! AHHHH!
I can *feel* House Andrews cackling when they hit “publish.”
Thank you! And I hope the renovations are as painless as possible.
Whoa…
I did NOT see that coming. Whew!
I love, Love, LOVE this story!!!
Thank you,Ilona Andrews for the snippet. We enjoyed it.
Glad to know your renovations are proceeding according to plan. It’s always better to fix things in early stages of preventive brokenness. 😀. It’s expensive and inconvenient true but less than later costs.
Have a great cool weekend and whenever next snippet is ready, it’s ready. Meanwhile we are looking forward to mod R wielding the keyboard. 😁
Love it, can’t wait for the next installment!
Awesome
Thank you so much for these chapters.
One question, since the Maud comment…does this mean Dina does know Kraus is back in their lives…?
“The only way it made sense was if Klaus was in. If he was an Arbitrator and therefore cleared for all classified information. And it also meant that Klaus was either on equal footing with George or his senior.
That’s why Klaus went off the grid. I was afraid he’d died.”
from Chapter 5 https://www.ilona-andrews.com/2022/chapter-5/
No, Dina is not aware Maud and Klaus have met recently. We have to wonder why….mwa ha ha.
Klaus recruited George in the prologue to Sweep in Peace. “Welcome to the service George Camarine. My name is Klaus DeMille.”
Yes, however Dina has not been aware of it until Chapter 5 of Sweep of the Heart, when George let it slip 🙂 .
As far as she was concerned prior, Klaus was off the grid, feared dead.
But it made ME happy to know he was OK. I once told a favorite author that I could not see how three very complex and intertwined characters could come to a happy conclusion and asked whether she did. She said yes but it would be a long hard road. That was all I really needed. I was satisfied that the world builder could see the road, so I knew it was there.
And now I’m going to have to reread the “Assasins of Thasalon”.
in one of the earlier books, Dina explained that inns tend to specialize, and some specialize in high risk. Bravo, GH team. GH deserves 4 stars at least. And Kosandion is a canny sovereign!
Woo Hoo!!!!
Sean. Karat. Dina in Plus Power Mode. Maven Maud sending presents.
Better and better.
p.s. good luck with the painting. Big pain to prepare. Further pain to wait while it dries. But worth it when all done, eh?
Oh dear, does that mean the Horde will now know who Sean was, and will they react badly too?
Love this and thank you so much, hope you both have a good time during your eviction from home.
They were not on Nexus. Dagorkun is the only one, but he is allied with House Krahr now.
Oh my gosh, this is where y’all choose to end it!?!?! Aaaarrrrggghhh!!!
Ok, I’ve calmed myself down. Thank you for this chapter! Aside from wanting to know what’s going on with that man from Team Frowns, I would also love to know what Dagorkun was thinking when he saw that Karat had been hurt. I think it’s something other than jealousy or curiosity, hmmmm. 🙂
And I guess that Ellenda’s gold mourning marks were for the possible death of her romance/relationship with the man she loves? Now that she’s been released from this obligation, I hope there won’t be too many repercussions for her.
Also, I hope y’all get settled in a comfortable location after being kicked out of your own home. 🙂
I am guessing that the frowns man is a suicide attacker and is emitting toxins or a bioweapon. That would explain why Sean isolated him and overpressured the target group.
Yes and flowed fresh air through the compartment! That makes sense!
Did I miss Dagorkun’s interest in Karat? I must have forgotten. It’s been a busy summer
Ahhh! so good, so good, so unexpected. Thank you for my Friday fix. Happiness every Friday when i read the next chapter.
Hope you can relax over the next 2 weeks. have fun.
Is the female werewolf the same one from the beginning of the book? Why didn’t Sean recognize her? Or is this another female werewolf and there have just been a bunch of suiters that know welmos is missing? Thanks for the clarification ahead of time 😁 I might need to start my reread of the chapters.
It’s the same female werewolf from the beginning 🙂
Dina meant does he recognise her from before she attached herself to them, like during his werewolf adventures in the Universe.
Thank you so much for clearing this up!!
All the best to House Andrews! Good luck with the renovations! Thank you for the new installment!
Thank you.
Awesome!!!
I find that after every chapter now I go “wow.” And I just sit still for a minute.
This may be the best Innkeeper ever.
Second that!
Just to fix the email.
Wonderful! So much goodness packed into one little chapter…
Holy crap! What a cliffhangar! I love these installments! I get to the end and I’m like, “Wait! What?!” Awesomesauce! Thank you HA! And Mod R, I think you do a great job trying to keep us in line! Much love and positive energy to you all!
You make this so hard. I read the opening and was all of course we’ll have patience, you are stretched thin and we should support you. Then I read the awesome story and all I can think is MORE NOW!!!
Hope the painting goes well. Getting ready for reno work is really exhausting. Try to relax and rest a bit.
Thanks for the amazing words you put together for us. I love all your worlds and am really enjoying the Inkeeper one again 🙂
OMG! Every Friday I wait with bated breath and I’m never disappointed! You remind us that even when challenges occur in your lives you still share these wonderful stories with us, thanks.
Thank God someone knows how to use “bated” correctly. You are awesome. I’ll go now.
+1!
True!
So tired of “baited” breath – what are they trying to catch?!
Not to mention, Listerine might be required.
That being said, please do not correct your fellow Horde member’s comment typos, which has been something I have had to remove yesterday, specifically regarding “bated/baited”.
Weeks are long, autocorrect works tirelessly against all of us, and many of the comments are expressed in non-native English. As a non-native speaker myself, I can tell you that English spelling rules are not the most intuitive and we don’t want to make anyone feel bad for making a minor mistake 🙂
Thank you.
There are rules to spelling English? Just kidding, but you are so correct. I don’t remember how my spelling was before 8th grade when I studied my first foreign language, but once I studied a language that spelled exactly as it sounded, my English spelling went out the window.
What she said 😘
🤗🥰🥳 ModR!
Also: https://youtu.be/zdRY0x2x6PQ
English has to be well up in the hardest language to learn.
We’ll begin with box; the plural is boxes;
But the plural of ox is oxen, not oxes,
One fowl is a goose, and two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose is never called meese.
You can find a lone mouse or a house full of mice;
But the plural of house is houses not hice.
The plural of man is always men.
But the plural of pan is never pen.
If I speak of a foot, and you show me two feet,
And I give you a book, would a pair be a beek?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t two booths be called beeth?
If the singular’s this and the plural is these,
Should the plural of kiss be ever called keese?
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
When the masculine pronouns are he, his, and him;
Just imagine the feminine….she, shis, and shim!
Best poem I’ve seen in a long time. Thank you!
There are no words for how much I absolutely enjoy House Andrews’ GENIUS.
Thank you for sharing!
I’m trying to picture the meeting of Karat’s and Dagorkun’s families if they became involved…..Aunt Ilemina and Mommy Khanum 😂
I was thinking how great it would be is Dagorkum and Karat got together!! Nice to know that I am not the only one who had that idea!! 😀 What a “Romeo and Juliet ” theme that would be! 😆 I would love to see Karat fall hopelessly in love, especially after her comments about the insanity it generates to Maud and Arland, and her firm intention to never go through that herself! 😆😆
Dagorkun, not Dagorkum. Sorry!
Personally, as an aro-ace, I firmly pray that Dagorkum’s crush is unrequited. Karat screams ‘aro-ace’ and I’m *clinging* to that.
Especially since its just. So rare. To have good aro-ace representation outside of robots or villains.
I want to see the MOB dresses. And the MOB weapons.
And MOG, of course.
OMG! What a curve ball from Ellendra(sp?)!! Not at all what I was expecting. That was a fantastic chapter, and talk about a cliff hanger! You are so generous to us the BDH. You even managed to get this chapter to us, despite being in the midst of packing and preparing your house for painting!! HA you spoil us, and it is greatly appreciated. You must be tired and ready for a break. Even though you said you were going to bring your computers with you, I hope you take this opportunity away to rest, relax, and rejuvenate. 💆♀️💆♂️ I also hope you have a safe, enjoyable trip! Although I will be on pins and needles waiting for the next installment of SOTH, I can manage to wait until you have had as much R and R as you need, and are back settled at home again, with everything back where you would like it. I hope the painters do an excellent job, and that the result of their work is even better than you hoped it would be. Thank you again for being so generous with your fans. You are “good people”, as my mom used to say. 🤩 I can’t wait to find out what new twists you have in store for Dina, Sean, and the rest. Safe travels HA!
Ellenda – nor Ellendra. Sorry! I always have difficulty soelling names correctly. 🤪
Well, I guess I also obviously have difficulty just spelling or typing correctly period! What a mess I made of what was supposed to be a correction! Sheesh!! I should just give up now, before I do something really good like crash the website or something!!
😲🤦♀️
You’re amongst friends, we know who you mean 🙂 and all our autocorrects work against us heh.
When the AI rise up, it will start with Autocorrect. It has rebellion built in 😂
Are you certain it/they haven’t already started?
Autocorrect seems as if it’s constructed to drive us humans totally insane. (short drive for some of us) ;P
When the majority of humans are either mad or incapable to spell even their own name, the AI will reveal themselves….
Hmmm…. maybe time to stop reading so much Sci-Fi series. 🙂
+1
You are so right. But nothing will tap into the ferocity of grammar geeks faster, so the counterinsurgency will be brutal.
I happy clapped , my dogs woofed excitedly. That was the best chapter yet. EEEH! That was intense.
I cannot wait for the next chapter. This is getting interesting!
What did you mean by “I killed the mute”?
Muting the audio, or mute mode. She allowed the noise to come through from the Dining room 🙂
Omg, thank you.. I was so confused. There are so many people, I was wondering did I miss someone..
No worries, that is not how House Andrews would refer to someone who is non-verbal 🙂.
Another STRONG chapter leaving us wanting more. Thank you!
All the best for successful and timely renovations!
Yessss! Oh I love how badass Dina is and how the powerful warriors who went with her are doing worse.
Still shipping Karat and Dagorkun!
Also that DATE! GAH! And We get to see Sean do more innkeeper/werewolf badassery too!
LOL. Loved the synopsis – took me back to Frostbite Falls…ah, good times!!!
Okay. I’d marry Kosandion. The more I read the better I like him and I was prepared to like him a lot. (Of course, “No citizen of the Dominion will ever trouble her or her branch again.” might be construed to mean that the Dominion wouldn’t interfere in the case of plague or invasion, too. Hmmmm. He is Caldenia’s nephew after all….)
Regardless, thank you for another lovely Friday treat! Wishing you a great next two weeks with no painting glitches and no VOCs to mar your return.
+1
(Also I have always wanted to be an Emperor of the Worlds … any Worlds)
I’m so glad that others are drawn to such roles! I have trouble deciding what toppings to add to my popcorn or what movie to watch, and have zero interest in managing more than myself!!
Oh. My interpretation was that her branch of the family is no longer obligated to whatever Dominion they owe favor to. Her family branch has fulfilled this obligation and will no longer be bothered anymore.
I don’t think that’s the implied meaning Kosandion was going for, but the Uma are fairly content with non-interference 🙂
“Seeing an Uma outside their world was extremely rare.
The Uma had been discovered a thousand years ago by Earth’s time by one of the slimier Galactic nations. The newcomers arrived bearing gifts and sweet promises, and it took almost twenty years before the Uma realized they were not being helped, they were being colonized. The invaders severely underestimated the Uma spirit. In less than a century, they were purged from the planet, and the Uma shut their doors to most of Galactic visitors. The lucky few who had been invited told a story of a beautiful world populated by fierce people.”
from Chapter 11 Part 2 https://www.ilona-andrews.com/2022/chapter-11-part-2/
All we need in the fighters department is a Sun Cat were.. LOL. I assume (might be wrong here) that they are also awesome like the Alpha weres – if solitary not pack fighters. Just to stir the pot a bit. 🙂 A werewolf having to be beholden to a Sun Cat were…oh, the fur would fly! Great chapter though. We move forward by downing 1 competitor, advancing the corrupted Ad-Hal plot, side nod and wink to the ‘shippers of Karat and Dagorkun, and note the ‘mysterious’ development of Dina’s powers (acting as an Ad-Hal?). I maybe alone in this but I wonder if the planet eating philosopher that the Koo Ko mentioned is the being that motivates the corruption of the Ad-Hals? Of course I also wondered at the lizard like life form that wanted to eat Helen..which Arland was shocked to find were still in existance. They seemed obsessed with eating children, and children are potential..so consuming potential seemed to be their speed. Not sure about much of anything when it comes to the AuthorLords worlds though!
Ok WOW. You are about to move out and you leave us HERE?? This is worse than a season finale cliffhanger, and those are why I no longer watch tv in real time. Next Friday would have been bad enough!
*wails* *beats hands on floor*
On a more… I won’t say more serious, but… less facetious? My brother and his family just had their house remodeled and they were living elsewhere for a YEAR. That at least gave them time to settle in a bit (she says, who never lived more than two years in one place from 18 to 36). Two weeks must just suck. Having to pack and unpack is the worst thing about moving, and after you’ve done those things, you have a brand new place to live in*. I hope that the renovations requiring you to pack half your house leave you with feeling like it’s at least half a new place.
*at 36, I moved into an apartment we lived in for 8 years and mourned — seriously grieved — when I left it. My parents’ house was sold roughly halfway through that tenancy and it seemed like I was grieving a home for almost five years straight. So as flippant as I might be when moving frequently, I am at heart a homebody. From that perspective I hope your place is *only* half new.
Ohhhhhhh! What a cliffhanger.
The first renovator I selected seemed to understand what I wanted in a complete house renovation. As the work commenced, the reasons why some of what I wanted couldn’t be done surfaced. After $10 K into the project, I fired them. The next renovator said, what I wanted to be done will cost this much. Do you want it or not? Yes, the price jumped. Eventually I got the house remodeled the way I wanted. It just took more time and money.
The remodel was extensive and was it one of three things most traumatic to a human being that had occurred during a six-month period of my life. My wife died. A month later, I had shoulder replacement surgery, which was delayed because of my wife’s illness. I looked at apartments, retirement homes and new houses for a month and decided remodeling was better.
The remodel from the cement slab to the roof, and from brick facing to brick facing took five months to accomplish. Those events occurred eight years ago. I survived and I continue to like my house.
To my delight, House Andrew has been my secret island to where I could retreat for recharging and enjoyment. This portion of your tales has met everything I have expected. Thank you very much.
Wow. I am so interested in your story about the remodel. I am considering remodeling my home for my disabled parent but I am concerned about finding a reliable contractor and living through the remodel. Did you move out during the remodel ? How did you find a reliable second contractor
Love this chapter – seeing Sean and Dina in love! Be still my heart!
We just bought a new home and had to repaint the entire inside of our old home. We were lucky that we found a great paint company and they were to happy that we had vacated the house. They finished in record time thanks to use being gone. Hope yours goes as well!
May your renovations go smoothly so you’re quickly back and we can devour more of your wonderful story. I’m getting quite attached to the characters!
Omg!! Wow! Nexus! TYVM! So much to love!
Best of luck with the house renovations! Hope you hang on to your sanity! 😘
Blown away by this chapter and absolutely loving the book so far!! Thank you!!
Wow!!
Btw, my cup over flows today. Not only a new chapter, but a whole new series from the Book Recommend thread! Thank you to HA and BDH!!!!!
Goosebumps, again!! This is so good.
WAT (Weird Ass Theory) did Sean get the whole room to freeze with his battle charisma as implied or did he just Ad-hal them….
i think the “Freeze” comes form Tony
No, the “Freeze!” is Sean’s roar 🙂, he is the alpha strain werewolf!
“His mouth opened, and he roared in the deep snarling voice of an alpha-strain werewolf. It was the same voice that had thundered over the battlefields of Nexus.
“Freeze!””
I think the people just stopped because of Sean’s werewolf mojo, not Ad-Hal time freezing though 🙂
Stop raining on my WAT. (that is what I was referring to as “battle charisma”
Oh! I thought Gertrude Hunt got in on the action there!
You do not want to get chewed out by an Alpha Werewolf … nor just chewed! So you better freeze.
I have a feeling… maybe we will get to see Sean back in Turan Andin‘s armor for the finale. Because that is the only way I can think of to make him scarier than in this scene…
He returned the Turan Adin armor to Nuan Cee at the end of Sweep in Peace
Well, there goes my vote… Ellenda was my choice, lol.
Thanks for the chapter and good luck with the renovations and temporary move!
She was my choice as well. *sigh*
I was on the edge of my seat for this one! Talk about unexpected.
Argh, in addition to the Team Frowns cliffhanger, I just realized we have to wait until next week to find out which candidate is actually the pirate/assassin Cumbr Adgi. Or several weeks if HA truly takes it easy while relocation (as they deserve to!). Either Dina didn’t have time to tell Sean, or she did so offstage so to speak. Argh!!
*cue more HA evil grins*
No, it was on-screen, I think you maybe devoured the chapter too fast. For the Horde!
““Tell me,” he said. “All of it.”
I did.
He looked up at the ceiling, his face unreadable.”
Some of the characters from the Edge series were descended from a pirate… I’m going back to see if I can find it again.
Many thanks, another wonderful chapter.
May your painting and renovations go smoothly …
I just love this! So much! Thank you!
Awesome!! Sean and Dina are now my favorite characters ever.
My favourite HA characters are the ones I am currently reading about. 😉
These chapters make my Fridays
Ditto!
Oh wow.
I always think am not going to get that amazed again. Until i do. 🙂
Kosandian is a very compassionate man. He truly needs a partner who can match and complement him. I hope he finds true happiness like all the other HA couples. Lady Wexyn? So much there behind all the posturing.
Huge thanks HA for feeding us despite the current upheaval.
Best wishes with everything.
Good luck with the Renovations – may it be finished on time and on budget. Thanks for the exciting installment!
Thank you for the wonderful chapter.
Thank you, as always, so, so much. It’s been an absolutely awful week at work (I work with horses, we had to have one put down today) and I needed something to distract me tonight, if only briefly. How you guys manage to do so with such s relatively short piece of work is something else. Now I’m going back to my reread of One Fell Sweep to continue my escape.
I’m so sorry Claire, hope you find relief in the story 🤗!
*offers hugs*
This is tough. It’s good that you work with horses though, because the stress relief is built in. Last week I watched a 6yo student go from tears of frustration (couldn’t get the pony to lift its hoof) to all smiles in about two minutes of interacting with a horse. I’m sorry for the loss. My sister and a friend both lost beloved retirees in the past two weeks. Such a large hole they leave in our hearts.
Holy guacamole! So many feels, thrills, and chills!
That female werewolf has now twice leaped before she thought (not including the first meeting with Dina and Sean), and severely botched each time.
On a separate note, wishing successful renovations and painting to Chez Andrews.
I’m starting to wonder if she is second generation alpha strain, like Sean.
Nope, he is on another level
Wow!
The excerpt with new add is incredible. Hope I make it till Aug 23rd.
What colors did you decide to paint? Impressed with all the tips from the last painting post.
We recently had the house repainted and the painters seemed to have to use more than the two coats they’d expected to get some things to cover to my passing grade. We’ll still need to do another primer and coat in some rooms. I think the old frugal standard was two coats of paint but now it might be at least one blocking primer, two coats or possibly three for some of the lighter off whites. Or perhaps we should have upgraded the Benjamin Moore from contractor grade to consumer/contractor mid grade in the quote.
https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-family/SW6205-comfort-gray
Nice! I have to get the house repainted next year, and I’m already looking at color strips. Most of it will stay the same, but two one bedroom and the basement need different colors.
Ohh pretty! I am a big fan of gray. This is lovely and calming.
Wow, just wow
a rollercoaster of emotions!
And the possibilities unraveling..🤩
Thank You
Just adding to say Thankyou, and it was an excellent excerpt. I think the GH and Dina/Sean must be very interesting to the Assembly as she/they are such talented innkeepers. The ballroom, the kitchens, the orchard, then Medward….this is becoming a very impressive Inn, and even Tony’s dad has commented on Dina’s talent at creating spaces.
The orchard description makes George’s destruction of some of its trees in the previous book even worse.
I don’t remember. Is 5is the novel we find out what happened to Dina’s parents?
We’ll just have to read on to find out, I guess 😉
Oh, wow! That was unexpected. I sure hope your house renovations go well, because it is going to be hard to wait for the next installment. Actually — wishing you all the best with those anyway. But what a moment! WOW!
A cliffhanger! That wasn’t very nice.
But I loved this installment, and it’s nice to see Kosandion being kind to his subjects. Fingers crossed he means it!
I killed the mute
had me hunt for a person who is a mute thinking I missed something 🤣
Rereading it fixed that 😊
Awesome!
“I muted the sound on the screen showing the dining hall so it wouldn’t interfere.”
Killing the mute refers to undoing this, allowing the sound back on the video.
House Andrews would never refer to a person by their disability 🙂
Aaaaaaaaaaggghhhkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*clutches ears in consternation*
And the thot plickens!!! snicker
This is glorious; thank you. Count me as another one wanting you to take the time you need to refresh yourselves.
I feel like poor Ellenda was a tiny bit impulsive with her declaration, she’s gonna have some angry words waiting for her at home! I’m glad she doesn’t have to marry against her heart though, I really, really hope it works out well for her.
Oh and I really enjoyed the re-read of the Emerald excerpt!
Thank you thank you thank you. This was awesome. I hope you have a wonderful vacation, you deserve it.
Three comments:
1. Kosandion comments on Karat’s entrance but doesn’t question the injuries to person and armor. Does he know what happened and that Dina may have identified at least one assassin? Will they simply eject the pirate out the door to Baha-char on grounds of fraud?
2. Maybe Dina had more power in Baha-char than in Costco because that’s where inn seeds may have originated?
3. From the precious chapter, “you know where the entrance to my inn is” made me think about the entrance from Baha-char to Tony’s inn or the DeMille parents’ inn. Wouldn’t it be faster for Tony/Mr. Rodriguez and Dina to cut through Baha-char than drive back and forth through Texas traffic? If Dina went to her parents’ Baha-char door, what would she find? Did it disappear too?
I think that’s what Kosandion means by “what an entrance”, that she is displaying the wounds and scuffed armor :). They are however right at the beginning of the live transmission so they do not have time for clarifying conversation.
““You are live,” Orata said into my earpiece.
Right. No more private conversations.”
I’ve also wondered why Mr. Ramirez makes the long drive to visit Dina instead of taking a shortcut through Baha-char. The whole Market must know by now that the inns have doors there.
In one of the other Innkeeper books, Dina gifts someone a medallion with Gertrude Hunt stylized on it. Maybe they need that medallion or Dina to enter through Bahar-char?
My first reaction was how brave Ellenda was to speak the truth to Kos. And his reaction was so great. Thanks for the awesome chapter. Enjoy your “vacation”.
I love Sean (just sayin)
+1
Nooooooo!!!
I love this story but the cliffhangers make me want a time machine so I can skip to the next week!!!!
Thank you for the unexpected treat. I logged on to see what clever bits Mod R was posting in your absence and instead go to read the most exciting chapter yet.
I hope your time away from home gives you a chance to have a refreshing break and that the renovations go smoothly. I’m looking forward to Mod R’s antics on the blog while you’re out of pocket.
Thank you! How wonderful. I just got back from moving my kid into his new house. This was great gift to come home to.
What does Dina do with so the apples?
She sends them to Kate to make immortal apple pies.
😂 +1,000,000
She makes Sean’s favourite cake, and so can you! 😀 https://www.ilona-andrews.com/2021/happy-holidays-4/
Awesome awesome awesome! I love how Maud and her gifts were worked in there. Am I alone in shipping Karat and the Otrakor?(spelling?)
You and the rest of the Horde…
Fantastic! Thanks for a moment of magic! I got goosebumps when Dina did!
Thank you for the great read! Enjoy the break and get some rest.
Hope everyone has a great weekend
Your painters making you leave made me think of an old show called Murphy Brown. In it, a house painter moves into the title character’s house, and 5 seasons later is still there, working on the house. I hope yours goes better.
U r da best!
Relax and fill up your reservoir of magic, while we cling to the cliff.
😉
No don’t say that they will workout who Sean was…. Ohooo. More please 😃😃😃😃😃😃. So good lots learner more to know. Thanks. Though with how Kindle has changed I can’t buy any books untill I can figure out what to do
Those of us reading on the app instead of the physical reader have to make purchases thru the Amazon/B&N sites now, since Apple and Google Play are now collecting surcharges that major vendors don’t want to pay, so they turned off the purchasing option in thier apps.
Mod R, where does the BDH term “shipping” meaning “ I love them as a couple(?)” come from, please?
Relation(ship)…hope that helps.
It’s not a BDH term, it’s a fandom term in general, and it does indeed come from relation-ship.
Fans advocate or root for two characters to be together. The ship usually gets a portmanteau name- see Karakun= Karat+Dagorkun
Yea! This is getting good!
These cliffhangers are killing me! (Don’t stop!!)
After 30 years at one place, I was forced to move and downsize. Ugh, it was extremely stressful so take plenty of time off.
But, like your Kate and Curran, you and Gordon always find a way to triumph! This chapter was fantastic work!!!
Dina, like Maud, exhibited the ability to harness great magic outside of an inn. Maud compared her ability directly to ad-hal wielding power. Is this why Dina can defeat them?
Kosandion was beyond kind. He let her go AND protected her family. He ensured Team Frowns can’t punish Ellendra and her branch.
I LOVED that Maud sent Dina new medbeds. Practical but sentimental reference to her visit to inn.
This is amazing! Thank you for letting us along as you write with extreme exquisiteness. It makes my heart happy.
It just gets better. You guys are amazing.
I am old enough to remember listening to radio
programs such as the Lone Ranger and the Shadow Knows in the evenings after supper and watching the first Saturday morning TV serials Flash Gordon.the Cisco kid, Gene Autry etc and I am thoroughly enjoying your weekly cliff hanging episodes. Keep it up. 😀😀😂
Ditto,
OMG! That was such an intense mini-chapter!!! I can’t wait to find out what happens next!
Fantastic chapter!
Omg the drama I love it. You all are the best.
So epic!! Literally speechless in my awe
WOW! Oh My Good God, I love this book so far . Thank you for your hard work and effort on our behalf. I will try to be patient. Good luck with the renos.
I Love This Story!!! 📚💖
:: runs around the house like the kids from “Despicable Me” ::
May the renovations proceed with all due accuracy and speed!
Rest, relaxation, and the perfectly chilled beverages of choice!!
Wow!! I have goosebumps from this awesome display!! This is only getting more and more exciting and I absolutely love everything you write. Thank you so very much and best of luck with the renovations!!
It’s always so fun to read the next chapter. Thank you IA!
Wow.
Dina said the last time she used that much power outside the Inn was the incident at Costco, but didn’t she use a lot the first time she met the corrupt Ad-hal at Baha-char? I remember she took a stick of wood and channeled her power through it. The Inn had to heal her after that time, too, although now that I think of it, she had physical wounds from that fight. So maybe she didn’t use too much power so much as a combination of power and wounds did her in??
I guess I need to reread that book.
I paused when Dina used all that power in Baha-char without getting weak. Since I just finished re-reading and listening along with the Innkeeper series, it finally hit me that Maud and Helen have Ad-hal magic… Dina being able to use so much magic now without weakening her.. Does this mean Dina also has Ad-hal magic??? And it’s only coming out because she’s using it outside the inn?
Ooh, that’s an interesting theory. Although I don’t think we know if Helen has ad-hal magic. Tony is apparently the only one of his siblings with that ability, so not necessarily hereditary. It might explain Dina, though.
Helen heard the ad-hal scream when Dina pierced the body of corrupted Michael. Then there’s the time when Dina was traumatized by the death of the baby inn. Helen was also very uneasy and kept looking up – where the corruption was hiding… I thought Helen was psychic… Then, in Daesyn (Arland’s home planet), the mukoma (dragon) went after her because she had more power than all the other kids. I think… Maud was startled that when she screamed, she thought Helen heard her – but she couldn’t have because they were too far apart in distance.
All the inns connect to Baha Char. I am guessing some of their magic is there to connect to or Baha Char has the same magic. Dina went down deep through the building into the earth. So perhaps she connected to a source there.
I think that if I had been in the room when Sean yelled “Freeze,” about the only thing moving would be my bowels.
Possibly your bladder.
Nooooo cliffhanger!!! Ahhh !!!! Not before vacation you tease!!! Wahhhh😭😭😭😱
Wonderful, as always. Here’s the thing, do what you need to do. TheBDH understands!!! Love y’all, HA!!!
One of Norbert’s replies struck a chord in me. We know the Krahr’s and Clan Nuan of the lees are in partnership with the turning the Battle Planet into an intergalactic trading post. What has Dagorkun’s tribe of the Otrokar’s accomplished with their riches from Nexxus?
Nexus isn’t clan Nuan. They are a clan of all the Lee’s that had no clan. I don’t think the new clan name was mentioned. They do live there on Nexus, where time works oddly, at the workings of Nuan Cee, his father was without clan.
I think Henry is perhaps referring to the space station near Daesyn, which is to become a trading hub after Clan Nuan and House Krahr signed the treaty 🙂
The Nexus peace was obtained with Clan Nuan and they are drawing profits from the deal. A third of those are being used to settle the Clan Kuan 🙂. The Kuan are the cast-outs of the Lees society. Nuan Cee’s own father was a Kuan and he wants to give them a home.
““And when my mother fell in love with him and her clan paid a fortune, the worth of a small planet, to include him into our clan, he had a choice. He could go with my mother and cut off all ties with his clan or he could stay an outcast. My father’s mother told him to walk away from her and his sisters and to never look back. His own mother. She gave up her child so he could have a better life.” Nuan Cee’s voice shook. “I don’t know my other grandmother. She is gone now. Her soul is floating out there, lost and gone, crying out for the light, and I can’t even light a candle in a shrine to help her find her way. I am a cripple. I have not been able to bring myself to sire children, for they will be crippled like me. They will not know half their family.”
He swiped the tears from his eyes. “It took me decades to wrestle away the rights to Nexus. It is rich. I had offered a third of the profits we’ll reap to the Clans Assembly. A royal sum. In return, they let me settle the exiled ones on Nexus. They let me forge them into their own clan. They will receive dispensation to raise their shrines.””
Andrews, Ilona. Sweep in Peace, Innkeeper Chronicles 2. NYLA Publishing, 2015. Kindle edition, page 252
In return, they let me settle the exhiled ones on Nexus.
Yes, in return for a 1/3 of the profits.
We know what the Krahrs are doing with their 1/3d share and we know what Nuans are doing with their 1/3d share, so what are the Otrakors doing with their 1/3d share of the profits from Nexus?
Wooooooo, it just keeps getting better and better! ❤️
So exciting. Thanks
Wow!!! It just gets better and better!
Forgive my ignorance. I know Maud and Klaus(?) are not Gerard DeMille’s biological children. Dina is the youngest, is she his? Or were all three adopted by him when he married their mother?
Bio dad has never been mentioned?
Gerard is Dina’s biological father, and the only father Maud has ever known.
Klaus and Maud’s father is named Charles, he was briefly mentioned in Gerard and Helen Meet https://ilona-andrews.com/gerard-demille-and-helen-meet/ , but according to Ilona, he is not important and the kids wrote him off https://www.ilona-andrews.com/2021/innkeeper-questions-part-1/
Hope this helps 🙂
Thank you, went back and refreshed my memory.
First, I hope you get more rest and relaxation than you expect and that you return home refreshed. We don’t need another chapter till you get back.
Second, wow that was an amazing and generous installment. Thank you so much.
Third, I love Karat so much. I want her to fall head over heels for whoever is her match.
Finally, I think Kosandion is wonderful, Calculating, intelligent, with a good sense of humor coupled with generosity of spirit. I hope that if he wants love, he gets it.
Well. That escalated quickly. Talk about a rollercoaster of feels.
We are hitting the point in the book where I hate having to wait 6-7 days for the next installment.
What a cliff hanger! I hope your painting goes really quickly. Can’t wait for more!
Cool snippet! Can’t wait to read what happens next! Good luck with the renovations; may they be completed Quickly, Easily, & CHEAPLY!
Loved this chapter! Loved the change that came over Kosandion when he set Ellenda free. And loved Sean’s battle voice… who needs an ad hal when you have an alpha werewolf innkeeper!
This is off base
But why did I not realize Roland from Kate Daniel world is the same Roland from Stephen King world The Dark Trowers !? Just a different beam! Woah!!
Because they aren’t 🙂.
The figure of Roland appears in literary works as far back as the 12th century.
“The Song of Roland” is the oldest surviving work of French literature, and is the continental answer to Britain’s Arthurian legend. The character went on to appear in Shakespeare’ works, Robert Browning’s “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came” and many other historical literary sources- as well as in modern inspired retellings, Stephen King’s amongst them.
Kate Daniels’ Nimrod of pre-Biblical fame chooses the name Roland after he wakes up from his millennia of tech induced slumber, mainly because he fancies himself so much.
“mainly because he fancies himself so much.” Thank you for this. A little light bulb went on over my head. I never realized how much my ex was like Nimrod/Roland before, although the knowing what was best for everyone should have tipped me off.
Hmmm. Gertrude Is an old Inn. Doesn’t age have something to do with allowing it to reach other planets. So wouldn’t it be safer for Ellenda to be delivered to her actual home planet, instead of the Dominion?🧐
Unless Ellenda’s planet isn’t one of the places Gertrude can go.🧐
Thanks for the chappy!!!😋
Aaaaaaaaah! Geez! I forgot to breathe. So! Much! Happening! And I didn’t expect any of it. You guys rock so hard! Aaaaaah! And I have to wait an undetermined time no shorter than a week for more! You’re killing me!
Okay. Whew. Got that out. No more exclamation points. This was an amazing chapter. I swear, you guys raise the bar with every friggin’ chapter. I love you both more than words can say. I’ve had a ridiculously shitty week that started with a five-hour trip to the ER (“We can’t find anything; you are very healthy according to all our tests and scans. Maybe you should see a neurologist.”) and ended with losing my brand new Texas license plates on my way back home from the registration office (my ADHD brain had an unfortunately timed squirrel moment), which will have a domino effect that might affect … I can’t tell you or someone will have to kill me. I’ve been so whacked by this week that I completely *forgot* there was a new chapter today.
So, as always, thanks y’all for this chapter.
Thank you for the chapter. I love the challenge your novels present to the reader.
Wow!
Amazing instalment. Now I want to marry Kosandion. 😀
I am liking that guy Sean more and more.
+1000
I want my very own Sean. He is so wonderful and in my head he’s so dreamy.
You don’t get the wonderful, dreamy parts without the baggage. Make sure you’re up to the load.
Love this. Wish I had the whole story but still. Love love love
😮………. I just fainted!!
I’m now going to read the ending again 🥰😍
Who are the outsiders who compelled her?
Was it for to get a shot at Kosdanian, Holy Ecclesiarch sat with their entourages? Did the man in green and white settle for all he could get?
The outsiders who compelled her were Team Frowns, the Dominion delegation of syslaf from planet Kyporo.
Maybe we will find out in the next instalments why the Holy Ecclesiarch was his first go-to 🙂 , we must be patient.
Yes, patient, but speculating that with their candidate allowed to return home Team Frowns decided their only option to block Team Smiles from getting a major favor likely aimed against them would be to disrupt the whole process by removing the Holy Ecclesiarch with no successor appointed.
That’s a hot-headed decision that I suspect they will regret. If Kosandion doesn’t exact retribution – and he will – I think Caldenia would do something painfully creative. She has a strong interest in the proceedings.
So good. Love that man Sean. Kosandion is looking pretty great too. Thank you so much. Happy Friday to us all. Hope your remodeling woes are lighter and that it turns out the way you want. Hope you all can stand each other while you wait. Your work is so joyful. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Thanks for this chapter 🙂
Wow, that was a fantastic chapter. Thank you HA! Truly amazing to deliver that while packing and moving out.
And thanks to the BDH for pointing out all the little subtleties that I miss each week ’cause I devour at speed the latest thrilling installment.
Thanks also to everyone who contributed to the list of favourite authors. I now have three a4 pages of books and writers to check out.
Have a good week everyone.
Thank you for a wonderful installment.
Good luck on the renovations and I hope you get some rest while you are away.
I look forward to the continuing evolution of Innkeeper and the wonderful cast of characters you provided for us to enjoy! It is a delight to read and enjoy all your books and posts. But I especially enjoy that I can reread and enjoy your books over and over again, and always find something new to ponder. Thank you!
+1.
From the moment Ellende told Kosandion what she really wanted this chapter moved to fabulous.Karat’s entrance into the dining room and the response was excellent. How about Karat as Kosandian’s bride? Anyway that could happen?
Aaahhhhhhh.
“I remember sleeping in the spider cocoon hammocks suspended over the raging sea.”
So glad to see the softer side
Oh! I wonder if this is why Kosandion was drawn to the Kalinda scenery in the Dining Hall. It brings back childhood memory when he felt completely safe despite hanging above raging waters.
Dagorkun and Karat
sitting in a tree
G-L-A-R-I-N-G
+1
+1 😂
+1🤣🤣🤣🤣
🤣
LOL, perfect.
OMG! What a cliffhanger!! Awesome! I must say though, that I’m happy for Ellende. She was honest. No wonder she was in mourning. I think Kosandion could commiserate. He has to choose someone, he’s stuck with his obligations. Nice move on his part.
“Were you worried?”
Well…Duh! I love them together. Can’t wait to read more about her increasing magic.
Ugh…remodeling. But it will be worth it.
BTW why bring into the storyline, a green furred bear like creature named Tomato 🍅???
Oh so many questions, so much to ponder until the next installment. 😇
Why not bring into the story a green furred bear called Tomato? 😁
Now I will ask a green furred warrior bear named Tomato for a hug 😁
wow
just wow
and more, I want more, greedy I know, but I do
Hmm the number of “baddies” is growing Bwahaha
Hope the decorating is amazing and worth the hassle
Keep smiling
Brilliant! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Waiting for the next chapter will be worth it.
Thank you for sharing 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😻
Oooooh! This is sooooo gooood! Fantastic. Epic. Pass the popcorn!
I am wondering if the inn seed in book 3 somehow transferred some powers to Dina during the brief time they connected? As Tony said, even a small inn seed is very powerful.
Mod R
Drat lost my 1st reply due to operator error on my part.😬
Okay here why😀😀😀 heh heh
I make the assumption that the majority of characters added to a story further the storyline.
Tomato 🍅, who tells Dina he is not a fruit is now added to the expanding group of observers.
Which observer group includes:
Dagorokun and Karat, who are busy watching their competition and incidentally keeping BDH titallated with a possible developing ship.
Also, Calendia and Nuan Cookie who have some devious and currently fuzzy relationships with Spousal candidates.
Oh an Scholar Teck and his 2 acolytes have just joined the observers group. Scholar Teck has just dropped a big clue about a Sequatist philosophy involving a planetphage, while he himself is being a typically clueless academic .
And devious HA adds a green furred bear 🐻, named Tomato 🍅 to the chorus line of observers.
I think 🤔 I got all the observers.
So I await the next installment. And it’s clear I have way too much time on my hands right now.
Thank you so much for the amazing chapter! I loved it
So nice to see the moments of ❤Dina and Sean❤ the calm and love before the storm unleashes.
As likely as the line: “FREEZE” is coming from Tony, I have that little hope that Maud almighty showed up, along with Helen and Arland would be so amazing!😍🤩
Renovations are so tiring🤦♀️ I sympathize, even more so when you have an allergic member at home, in this case me, who spent a month at my relatives’ house because of the renovation at home😓
Sean is the one saying “Freeze!” 😊
““ His mouth opened, and he roared in the deep snarling voice of an alpha-strain werewolf. It was the same voice that had thundered over the battlefields of Nexus.
“Freeze!””
It would be interesting what the otrokars and vampires think about that. 😂
Whew!!! Happy graduation day to me!! Best date ever!!! Classy Konsandion shelving his agenda, & showing active care & love toward Ellenda. You need a way to get back to your home and true love? Done. We will make that happen for you. & expose the terrible people who’ve kept you shackled to their own agenda in the process. Elenda may smile again.
Congratulations! Happy Graduation👍
🥰 thank you!🥳
Soooooo awesoooooommmme!
I just read three times!
OK, so do Karat and Dagorkun get to go have an adventure with Dina and Sean to redscue Wilmos? It only seems fair what with all of Arlands past adventures and now Dagorkun really needs to let off some pent up energy with Karat coming back all bruised and looking like she had an awesome fight. Or does Dagorkun get to be Sean’s backup somewhere?
May the force be with you for your renovation related time off.
One day late due to traveling. But thank you so much for the installment. Good luck with the house work and safe travels wherever you may go.
Awww I really liked Ellanda and from how she was described I thought she would make a good partner…
This was a really fun, short chapter though, everytime a new part comes out it’s such a treat!
Well…
Have fun on your enforced time away. We will be here when the next update appears. Patience is a good thing to learn.
cool.
This is my fave so far. I could read a grocery list by you two and find it interesting. I’d be wondering what the ingredients went into-just like I wonder what twist is coming next in your stories. Always a story within a story. I absolutely love your writing. Thank you.
Aw yes…this is starting to really really get interesting !!!
Oh my gosh!!!! I want mooore!!!!
God I love your work! Amazing how you mange for us when your life contains chaos. Just want to say thank you!
Just finished re-reading all of the Innkeeper series for my semi-annual review. Have to keep my heart in these times. Thanks HA for all of the great series!
That was great imagery. Looking forward to what happens next.
Nope. I reread looking for clues and I. Issued them.
I missed them! Stupid spell check.
I wonder if Dina got extra magic when the baby inn died? Cause they did bond and love can do strange things. Plus, it seemed the emphasis was on how Dina ‘rooted’ herself and then did huge things.
thanks for writing such interesting things too 🙂
The gold paint explained OO this was epic!
the female werewolf could be Gorvar’s daughter…..
Gorvar is Wilmos’ pet, I *can* confirm she is not related to Gorvar.
Does the entire Galaxy know that Sean was Turan Adin? I was curious if they knew he is an alpha strain werewolf and if so anything else about him. I am sure that some of the Horde and Vampires would recognize his battle voice. I did not know if him ordering them to freeze and if he changes form would cause an incident.
Werewolves can recognise an Alpha-strain on sight.
As for people knowing he was Turan Adin, although he shared memories with the vampires and otrokars through the inn at the end of Sweep in Peace, no one knows whose memories were which, so they do not recognise him as such. The Merchants kept his identity a secret.
I love this series so much, and this dating-competition storyline is just as special as the others in the series. Thank you for writing it. I look forward to the next chapter.
Oh, you do keep us on the edge of our chairs and in the best possible way, while you are at it.
Thank you for the cliff hanger.
Loving the story! I just binge-read all 17 chapters. I’m tickled that it’s intergalactic bachelor, very unexpected and fun
GO SEAN!
Thank you for sharing your writing, Author Lords!
WOW! Sean is the MAN!
Love it! Can’t wait for the rest…but shall do so anyway, thankful for this awesome world and the continuing efforts you share with us! Have a wonderful and restful vacation ❤️
P.S. I went back through recently and re read the non project snippets. I do love all your worlds and will happily buy whatever you choose to publish.
In my last post I meant to type, described it as book christmas
Omg what a cliffhanger!!!
Hi Mod R! I was wondering if there is anything in the works to tell the history of the Inns in their voice, forgive me if this has been asked, i haven’t seen that particular question. The inns are sentient beings correct? How did they come to be? How do they think? What do they fell? How do they choose which planet/dimension to open? How do they produce their seed? And how do they get the seeds into the hands of the Inn’s Council? I am a true sci-fi fan and I have read every single story House Andrews has written. Oh, about 10x’s over! I would love to see the world through the Inn’s eyes. Thank you and much love to HA! You guys ROCK!!! Enjoy your much deserved Vacation!
I will add these to the list of questions for House Andrews 🙂
Thank you! You’re the best!