Tales of the Egyptian Gods - Warrior of the Nile

VS sez: One from the Archives! I just released a new book set in Ancient Egypt, MAGIC OF THE NILE, and thought I'd revisit a previous book, which is a standalone story set in ancient times...(post revised a bit  to update!)

Here were snippets from three of the reviews at the time the book came out:

RT Book Reviews: "4 Stars...HOT...you're in for the most romantic desert story since Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra. Khenet and Tiya are realistically resigned to their joined fates and the distrust-turned-love will make hearts clench." October 2013

Night Owl Romance Reviews: Top Pick  5 Stars "...another awesome read by  the wonderful storyteller Veronica Scott."

KIRKUS REVIEWS: "...Scott's ancient Egyptian milieu should pique the interest of historical-romance readers looking for a story set outside the usual scenery..."

 If you read my posts here regularly on the 13th of the month, you know how much I love all things having to do with life along the Nile, untold centuries ago.

(Yes, I did kinda get hung up on using "Nile" in my titles, I'll freely admit. Carina Press decided to add "Gods of Egypt" for some variety I think, LOL.)

Here's the story for Warrior:

Egypt, 1500 BCE

Lady Tiya is bound to the service of the goddess Nephthys, who plans to sacrifice Tiya’s body to protect Egypt from an ancient terror. She embarks to meet her grim fate alone but for the hardened warrior Khenet, who is fated to die at her side. Tiya’s dreams of love and family now seem impossible, and Khenet, who is the last of his line, knows his culture will die with him. Struggling with the high cost of Nephthys’s demands, both resolve to remain loyal.

Neither expects the passion that flowers when Tiya’s quiet courage and ethereal beauty meet Khenet’s firm strength and resolve. On a boat down the Nile, their two lonely souls find in each other a reason to live. But time is short and trust elusive.

Without the willing sacrifice of Tiya and Khenet, a great evil will return to Egypt. How could the gods demand their deaths when they’ve only just begun to live?

Here's a short excerpt from midway through Chapter One to tempt you a tiny bit. The scene takes place in the temple of the goddess Nephthys:

Khenet felt a breeze swirl around him emanating from the closed door. Glancing over his shoulder to look, he saw the pins holding the bolts on the door to the innermost sanctum slowly turning. As he watched, one fell to the floor with a crash, followed a moment later by the other. The door drifted open very slightly, light blazing through the narrow opening and at the sides.

            “The goddess is present,” said the high priest, clutching his staff so hard his knuckles went white. “Everyone is dismissed and may leave the inner sanctum, except for Lady Tiya and Pharaoh’s representative.”

            Tiya gave her relieved cousin a hasty kiss as the man who’d been holding her earlier rushed forward to remove the woman from the dais, carrying her out of the sanctum, followed by their family members. Tiya’s father came to brush a kiss on her cheek before rejoining his impatient young wife and her brother and they too left.  Khenet saw that while Tiya didn’t glance after them, she did hastily wipe away a tear.

            Murmuring prayers of praise and thanksgiving, the other priests filed out of the room.

            Going down the steps, he offered Tiya his help in leaving the dais. “Allow me.”

            She rested her fingers on his hand just long enough to keep her balance before snatching her hand back, wrapping her sheer, fringed shawl more closely around her. Preceding him up the stairs to the door of the innermost sanctum, Tiya held herself tall and dignified.

He restrained a sigh. If she’s as haughty and rude as all her kind, this will be a long journey. But the other would have driven me to distraction with her interminable weeping, should Nephthys have selected her.

The high priest regarded them solemnly. “We go to meet the goddess. Nephthys wishes to assess both her Daughter and the guardian.”

“I’m ready,” Khenet said, fists clenched.

Tiya just nodded.

Checking to see that everyone else had left the chamber before walking to the partially open doors, the priest flung the gilded panels wide open. Light streamed out and Khenet heard the buzzing of wasps, as if he was about to step into a hive of the angry creatures. Tiya shrank back a little, took a deep breath and followed the priest.

Not knowing what he expected, never having been in the innermost sanctum of a temple before, other than once as a boy to swear allegiance to Horus, Khenet sized up the room in a quick glance as he crossed the threshold. The room was dominated by a ten foot tall statue of the goddess, with her arms out to the sides, palms up, her proud face carved as if she was staring directly at anyone foolish enough to enter her domain. The sculptor had depicted Nephthys wearing a tightly fitting, pleated sheath and the entire statue had been covered in gold, which gleamed in the unearthly light the goddess herself was providing. A gleaming collar of turquoise, coral and lapis lay across the statue’s chest, matching earrings affixed to the shell-like ears. The strong scent of the lotus threatened to choke him

“The goddess is present,” whispered the priest, going to his knees, arms crossed over his chest, head down.

Tiya muttered a little prayer and knelt, copying the man’s pose. Khenet planted his feet well apart, in a fighter’s stance and stood. I’m here in Pharaoh’s place and he wouldn’t kneel to any goddess. Besides, I swear no fealty to Nephthys.

Amazon  for kindle and audiobook  Carina Press   AllRomance eBooks    Barnes & Noble

Perfume of the Pharoahs

 VS sez: here's one from the archives today, revised a bit...
Warrior of the Nile is my second paranormal romance set in Ancient Egypt, Dancer of the Nile is my third and the fourth -  Magic of the Nile - will be out in March.. Since I knew I would be doing a post here on the Paranormal Romantics blog this week, I was scanning through the manuscripts last night, to see what might inspire me as a topic to write about, and I came up with – perfume!

The Egyptians loved and treasured perfume, starting with the scent of the blue Nile lotus, which they

wore in garlands, as wreaths, and carried singly or in bouquets. Curiously the flower was not often used as an ingredient for actual perfume. Perhaps the Egyptian belief that a strong scent of lotus in the air meant a Great One was present kept the mere mortals from usurping the concentrated lotus essence for themselves.

 Khenet, the warrior in my book's title, has several encounters with the goddess Nepthys during the novel, none of them very comfortable. He does indeed learn to watch out for that overwhelming perfume as a sign she’s near. Here’s the first time they meet, deep in the inner sanctum of her temple:

“Do you find me attractive, warrior?” she asked, her voice husky, honey sweet and low pitched. Not waiting for an answer, she swayed across the chamber to confront him, one hand on her hip. “It’s been many centuries since I took a human lover.”

Lotus perfume surrounded him, making him dizzy. Choosing his words very carefully, Khenet couldn’t help thinking the situation felt like a trap. “With all due respect, Great One, such radiant splendor is too much for a mortal man to experience.”

Nephthys laughed. “Well spoken, I see Pharaoh has sent me a diplomat disguised as a rough soldier.”

He opted for silence. Yeah I learned a lot in my years at Court, especially how great ladies like to be complimented.

 Perfume was so important to the Ancient Egyptians that there was even a special deity, Nefertum, assigned to be “…guardian and protector of the perfume and oil makers, protector and god of the sacred lotus. Osiris is the body of the plants, Nefertum is the soul of the plants, the plants purified. The divine perfume belongs to Nefertum living forever.”*

He was usually depicted as a very handsome young man, with a crown of lotus flowers. Some legends say his tears at the dawn of time became the human race. Egyptians often carried small amulets depicting him as good luck charms… and that was about the extent of Nefertum’s responsibilities. Watching over the all important perfume was a full time job apparently!

Just as we have our favorite brands of perfume today, expecting every bottle of Chanel No 5 to smell exactly the same, the Egyptians had detailed recipes for their favorite scents, including Susinum (lilies, myrrh & more), Cyprinum (henna) and Mendesian (myrrh, cassia, resins & more). They conducted an international trade in this luxury. To signify his dominion over Egypt, which was so identified with the perfume industry, Julius Caesar is said to have scattered alabaster perfume bottles to the crowds at his triumphal parades in Rome.

We’re barely scratching the surface of this topic and I’m already out of space but I’ll take it up again another day…there’s still the tale to tell of the sunken cargo ship carrying blue glass, fragrant materials and a golden scarab bearing the cartouche of Nefertiti…were they bringing exotic ingredients to be made into a special scent just for her? 

Always more mysteries and questions when it comes to Ancient Egypt – thank goodness!

What's your favorite scent? Currently I alternate between Very Hollywood by Michael Kors and  Tresor by Lancome....

 See you next month…

ABOUT Warrior of the Nile:
RT Book Reviews sez: “4 Stars HOT…you’re in for the most romantic desert story since Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra…”

Amazon  Carina Press   AllRomance eBooks    Barnes & Noble

*Hymn to Nefertem, 18th dynasty
Steve Van Toller, G. H. Todd: Fragrance: Psychology and Biology of Perfume, 1992 Springer, p.290

Cover Reveal AND New Series Book Trailer Gods of Egypt

Things have been pretty busy lately, what with Warrior of the Nile coming out from Carina Press on the 16th (next week - EEP!) and I just revealed the cover for the next book in this connected series, Dancer of the Nile. I think the heroine, Nima, looks so strong and determined! Starting with Dancer of the Nile, I'm self publishing the series. I've been a "hybrid author" for awhile, self publishing my best selling science fiction romances, so in for a penny, in for a pound, as they say!

I also commissioned a series trailer from the wonderful Theresa McClinton, of Making It Reel, for the Egyptian series. Collaborating with her was so much fun and our goal was to create a video that would invite the viewer into the faraway, ancient land along the Nile. Let me know what you think, please!

But before we get to the video, let me give you the story blurb for Warrior of the Nile, since he'll be arriving in just three days!

Egypt, 1500 BCE

Lady Tiya is bound to the service of the goddess Nephthys, who plans to sacrifice Tiya’s body to protect Egypt from an ancient terror. She embarks to meet her grim fate alone but for the hardened warrior Khenet, who is fated to die at her side. Tiya’s dreams of love and family now seem impossible, and Khenet, who is the last of his line, knows his culture will die with him. Struggling with the high cost of Nephthys’s demands, both resolve to remain loyal.

Neither expects the passion that flowers when Tiya’s quiet courage and ethereal beauty meet Khenet’s firm strength and resolve. On a boat down the Nile, their two lonely souls find in each other a reason to live. But time is short and trust elusive.

Without the willing sacrifice of Tiya and Khenet, a great evil will return to Egypt. How could the gods demand their deaths when they’ve only just begun to live?

Here's the brand new trailer: