Tour: The Lioness by Jake Bonsignore ~ Excerpt

Seventeen-year-old Adria Catarr is a carefree, stubborn girl with an insatiable sweet tooth. When she stumbles into Lando Cardé, the incognito prince, during the annual Midsummer Festival and mistakes his charm for love at first sight, her naïve heart is quickly broken.

Kaidan Sordell, a childhood friend, is there to pick up the pieces and help Adria mend her wounds. His affection for her has gone unnoticed for so long that he’s not sure if he’ll ever have the nerve to tell her how he truly feels.

With the last summer before adulthood upon them, Adria and Kaidan decide to seek out the Temple of the Red Mare. The legendary tales of it revealing a heart’s truest desire is too tempting for lovelorn Adria to pass up.

Will she realize, though, that what she’s looking for has been trekking beside her all along?

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~ About the author ~ 

Jake Bonsignore is the author of multiple novels, including Empyreal Illusions, Awakening the Fire, and The Lioness. He is a graduate of the University of South Florida with magna cum laude honors. Outside of his literary pursuits, he enjoys playing sports and is a fitness enthusiast. He is currently working on his next book.

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~ Excerpt ~ 

“Face it, young’un. She’s your other half.”

“I…I can’t…I mean, I guess I’m just confused.”

“What’s so confusing about it? I’m certain you’ve held her hand before? You’ve made each other laugh despite your disagreements, yes?” She opened a package of biscotti while he nodded. “You’ve held her when she cried, correct? For heaven’s sake, you’ve traveled leagues with her into the back of beyond so she could fulfill a silly dream. The first thing she asked me when I checked on her was if you were alright. It’s pretty obvious, if you ask me. You two are as lovely of an item as they come.”

Kaidan swallowed a piece of his biscuit and countered, “I’m not so certain that things are that simple.”

Sabine arched her brows. “Young’un, have you hit your head recently or are you always this stupid?”

“W-what do you mean?”

“True love is a journey. It doesn’t happen overnight. Give and take, push and pull, ups and downs…they’re all part of the blessing. There’s more to a relationship than kissing and cuddling, you see. When it comes down to it, though, I think you already figured that out.”

The color drained from Kaidan’s face as if he had seen a ghost. Was it really possible for the girl of his dreams to have chosen him? The truth of what she said hit him like a sidewinder. Were he and Adria really a couple? They had never really kissed or even broached the matter….

Sabine went on as if she had read his mind. “I can tell those rusted cogs in your noggin are turning, Kaidan. Trust me when I tell you that I haven’t become this ancient without learning about how the world operates. Someday, you’ll see that what you have and how deep your pockets run don’t mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. It’s who you are in here that counts.” She tapped his chest. “You have to do more than make her feel like she’s the most special lady in the world. You have to make her know it.”

A thought-provoking, hallowed silence ensued next. Her wisdom had unleashed a thousand possibilities within Kaidan that he had never dared to imagine.

Kaidan’s shoulders eventually slumped. “You’re right, Granny Sabine. I’ve never told anyone this and I’m not so sure that I even want to admit it, but I…I think I’ve loved Adria since we were children. If anything, this journey has made me fall for her a hundred times over.”

“Ah, young’un.” She coughed. “Don’t make me question if there’s anything between those ears of yours.”

Huh? “I don’t get—”

“Pay close attention, Kaidan. No matter what comes to be and where you end up, remember this for the rest of your life. Capiche?”

“Y-yes.”

“When you’re meant for each other, you don’t fall. You rise. You become a better person and go out of your way to wow your partner. Love always brings you up, not kicks you down.”

Kaidan knew not how long he remained motionless with a gaping mouth.

“First you went all dumb on me, and now you’ve gone mute? Well, that’s okay, young’un. As long as you don’t go deaf, we won’t have an issue.”

Kaidan snickered. “Uh, sorry.”