But first, an important announcement.
This Friday, 7:00 pm, Spicewood Springs Branch of Austin Public Library will host a get together at 8637 Spicewood Springs Road.
“Join the Austin Public Library for an exclusive, intimate evening with New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews! This 18 and older event will feature a reading from her novel White Hot, a Q & A and a book signing. The doors will open at 6:45 PM with the program starting at 7 PM. Meet the Author events provide an opportunity to hear a writer read their work aloud and discuss it with an audience. ” Read more.
On with the story.
###
I raised my hand. “The point is, Victoria Tremaine desperately needs us. She’s the only surviving Prime of her House.”
“The House is everything,” Bern said quietly. “She needs you and the girls to qualify as Primes so she can keep her House alive.”
“Question!” Leon said. “If she is the only Prime, how can she still be a House?”
“Every time a new Prime is registered, the Office of Records checks to see if the family has two Primes,” Catalina said. “If there are two living Primes, the family is recertified as a House. They don’t take away the family’s rank until the last Prime alive at the last certification dies.”
My sister had been reading up on Houses. “You know what I can do,” I said.
I could do plenty. Being able to detect a lie was the least of my talents. I could crack a human mind like a walnut and pull whatever knowledge I needed out of it. And I didn’t have to leave the mind intact.
“Victoria can do everything I do and much more, and she does it better. I’m just now figuring out the extent of my power. She’s been trained in the use of magic since she could hold chalk in her hand. She has power, money, and troops we don’t. She’ll do whatever she has to do to gain control of me and Catalina at the very least.”
Grandma Frida put her hand over her mouth. Bernard was usually calm and steady, like a rock in a storm. But right now his eyes were full of fear.
“She can do things with Catalina’s talent.” Unspeakable, ugly things. Things that would make my thoughtful, kind sister hate herself. “And if Arabella’s magic is discovered . . .”
I didn’t finish. I didn’t even want to go there. They would lock her away and keep her sedated for the rest of her life. She would never get to see the sun. She’d never laugh again, never love, never live. My grandmother wouldn’t get her claws on my sisters. I wouldn’t let it happen.
Catalina leaned forward, her eyes defiant. “What are our options?”
I checked my mother’s face. She was sitting still, her expression grim.
“We can roll over,” I said. “That will likely mean that you and I will have to do whatever Victoria says. We’ll have to walk away from our business.”
Catalina winced. Our parents built Baylor Investigative Agency, and I spent seven years growing it. It wasn’t just a business. It was the future and the core of our family.
I had to keep going. “We probably won’t see Mom, Grandma Frida, or Bern and Leon again for a while.”
That got me a look of pure horror.
“We’d have to obey her and do whatever she wanted. I would be doing interrogations and lobotomizing people.”
I kept my voice even. They didn’t need emotion from me right now.
“Eventually Victoria will die. She’s old.” And that didn’t sound morbid. Not at all. I forged on. “Eventually we’d inherit House Tremaine.”
“How long?” Leon asked.
“I don’t know. She’s in her seventies. Ten years, maybe twenty.”
“Door number two, please,” Arabella said.
[final_countdown id=”FWsE2Jd” width=”300px” height=”150px”]
Part 3 will be coming in a couple of days.
I am so excited and happy that we’re getting Wildfire in 47 days, yet also sad and depressed that after I read it, there will be no more until you guys write the next one (or not!). This emotional roller coaster is exhausting! All I can say is, I hope Ilona Andrews has a long and fruitful career!
Ahhh, I know! I never know at what pace….whether to blitz through or savour it. Savour obviously, but like consciously savour not natural pauses, which is hard and kind of ruins the rhythm. Like, ‘Enough! Put the book down Mai, you can have your next fix tomorrow’ kind of savour. Because otherwise I will devour this bishhh and feel all bereft and ish.
I usually take PTO on book-release days, but White Hot’s release day was too close to the end of the month for me to be able to take vacation. So I stayed up until midnight and waited for it to load on my Kindle, then read until 4:00. And then I tried to listen to it at work, which meant I didn’t really focus on work OR the story. All in all, it was a crappy way for me to digest the story.
I’m not making that mistake with Wildfire. I’ve already scheduled the day off, and I will read it at my leisure and really savor it.
46 days is way too long, I need to read it now. XDD
OMG! It’s too much. I can’t wait and I’m reading White Hot again for the third time in a week. It’s just keeps getting better and it was unbelievably good the first time. Thank you!
That make me feel so much better. I just re-read both books back to back this week and felt a little obsessed.
Aaaaaaaauggh!!! Tease!!! Evil Authorlords!! Evil Teasers!!!
Thank you for the snippet though. 😀
Caesar is………Lenora Jordan!
Nevada hero worships her, she is all about justice, and she has already been introduced in the book series.
Thats my guess. Anyone else have any thoughts on this.
My head says you are right but my heart says ” no” because I don’t want someone who Nevada respects and admires so much to be capable of masterminding such wickedness. As I was reading White Hot it floated through my mind that she could be a logical choice but I want it to be someone else. Only about 7 weeks to wait and we will find out. I thought the long wait for WH was bad. Now I am so invested in this story and so keen to find out what happens I am finding the wait for Wildfire is torturous.
Well from White Hot Nevada no longer puts Lenora on a pedestal. She recognizes she is a person on her third visit – tired, bags under the eyes etc. Foreshadowing perhpas? 🙂
I wouldn’t be surprised is Cesar is Augustine. The deeper they go the more in revealed about each of ther magic. Soon he will know the full extend of all the Baylor’s and just how to defeat them. He also now knows Nevada is a gateway to Rogan.
I don’t see how Jordan can be C. She doesn’t have the money or the magic for that type of following. I don’t think it’s a character we know well, but if so, my money is on Augustine.
Linus Duncan is clearly Caesar. He’s sincere.
That’s what I was going to say
I agree, he wanted to change things.
Agree.
I hope not. I don’t want Augustine to be mixed up with the cabal.
I don’t see how it is Augustine. There are too many times he says stuff to Nevada that she doesn’t get a buzz as a lie from.
Cesar is Rynda! I’m positive it’s Rynda. Nevada unsuspectedly let her in, and undertook to help her. Her husband has probably been disposed of, in a manner that she wasn’t complicit in OR her mother shielded her mind just in case. I’m sure it can’t be anyone but Rynda!
Totally agree!!
Thank you! It looks great. I have it ordered in Kindle, Audible and paperback (gift).
I love Nevada. Thanks.
Buwahahaha the timer is genius.
No it’s not. I can’t speed it up. It still says 47 days.
I agree with Allan and Tink! Reminds me of a detonator timer on doomsday machine in a movie—or the countdown to wonderful events like Y2K (IT folks, remember that?!?) or the number of days until Christmas. ? Anxiety is at a maximum level!!
hence the genius. It’s a torturous reminder that we dont have the novel yet.
Thank you…. But Good God you two are cruel! It’s like addiction!
Addiction can be treated with textbooks. Try one physical chemistry
Just to let you know the count down clock is a mean reminder we have to wait… 🙁 😉
Thank you for your gift. You are truly talented and that’s rare in a world of cookie cutter UF full of dominating Werebears and simpering heroines.
You know I was just thinking about that today. In all of the series’ that the two of you have written, the majority of the female characters are strong. All of the lead females are strong with a capital S! I love that!!! And all of them are so normally flawed.
Thank you for the snippets! Totally great marketing! LOL
Lastly, the only time I really mind living in a small, out-of-the-way town in Arizona is when I read about your author trips/meet and greets. Oh well. Have a wonderfully successful time!
This is not the first time I’ve had to wait for the next book in the series, it’s a really short wait comparatively. But for some weird-ass reason, I NEED this book.
Honestly, it’s a blessing bc exams start tomorrow but still…..
You also have an exam tomorrow? T_T
This is your next big hit after Kate Daniel’s if you keep it going. Rich world building engaging characters and unique magic. Pleases don’t let this be the last one. I feel like I’m just getting to know Nevada and her family.
Incredible kind of you to share this with us to make the wait easier 🙂
( or more desperate i am not sure 😀 ) however: Thank you *heart*
i am looking forward to this book
I’m so very excited for a couple days from now when we get the next bit!
I keep staring at the timer, hoping it will speed up 😛
Thank you for sharing this, it will make the next 47+ days better while keeping me at a fever pitch of anticipation 🙂
Wow! Actually my first thought was Holy C**p!!! (not sure if I can use that word here). Thanks for the snippet and LOVE the count down ticker! I’m patiently (not really) waiting for the release 😉
So very excited for this book! Thanks so much for this chapter!!
Thank you Ilona Andrews for Wildfire snippets.
A comment for Betty regarding who Caesar is. You do realize that Caesar could be Lenora Jordan but the head of the Movement could very well be someone else such as Victoria Tremaine who would receive/ get the needed loyalty to the Movement if it was known that Lenora was Caesar and the ultimate leader. I realize this is convoluted but I learned years ago that the one whom everyone thought was the decision maker and the power was really just a face for the ones that truly had all the power and ruled. This was corporate reality. How that translates into political reality I do not know but I suspect worms are worms no matter the reality.
Fictional reality?
By this argument, I’m liking Rogan’s cousin for Caesar… One of the obviously powerful seems too easy a choice for me. Could this be a case of hiding in plain sight?
Sheeeeeets, I need to find something to hold me over for 47 days. Um… *checks Kindle* OK that’s a bunch of smut. Here’s hoping it lasts!
God bless u
I live for ur snippets
Arrrgh! That countdown timer at the and of the snippet made me swear. More please?
Ahh, I hope they’re about to address my question. How would they become a house without divulging too much info about Catalina’s powers?
A bit of mind wandering here… Looking at the Baylor family, the idea that ‘duds’ aren’t worth marrying off seems a bit… short sighted of their society (though still believable considering the arrogance of the magicaly-abled). It could be a bit of a gamble, but perhaps some families who struggle to maintain production of primes would still encourage their less talented children to ‘do their best’ for the family line. Or are the Baylors more outliers in this?
They can’t. They have to hv 2 primes at registration, and we don’t even know for sure if Arabella and/or Catalina are primes yet. Maybe it’s Leon who is going to be the second prime. Secrets, secrets, and more secrets.
Catalinia is a Prime, she announced it in White Hot. We think Arabella is as well from her response, that they are all special.
They can’t. In White Hot Rogan said that the paperwork to become a house would take 48 hours and the testing would be set up. So Nevada and Catalina would have to be tested to see if they are Prime level.
Really with the count down. I’m already on edge waiting for July not helping. Thanks for the chapter though.
““Door number two, please,” Arabella said.” THANK YOU Arabella, I was starting to have that “look of pure horror”.
Maybe, EG is just a sweet Grandma behind her shell. Maybe, she’s not evil at all. (Hope makes us live, right ? xD)
And door number three is…. can hardly wait to see what Family Baylor comes up with! The love thing makes me smile though I totally get how devastating that could be way too quickly. Onward.
When Rogan’s mother married his father, she became part of house Rogan.
Nevada wants to start House Baylor, for defensive reasons. Her family would be safe for at least a few years.
If Nevada marries Rogan, can she haul her family to his house with her?
(If you already answered this question, I apologize, I didn’t see it.)
I haven’t seen the answer to that either. Although to get the three years, House Baylor would have to be declared. And while I’m sure Nevada wants to be with Rogan, she also values her independence.
I am thinking Caesar is one of the people we saw at the party.
The older gentleman in the assembly.
The old leader of the upstairs. Now that is a cool idea.
How do we know if Grandmother Tremaine is really bad? What if this is all a misunderstanding and GM has a change of heart after her son left and she never got to meet her grandkids?
I need to read the end again because I rushed through it last time (falling asleep but couldn’t put the book down!)
If she is so kind and sweet, why did she surreptitiously go behind family’s back to try to buy warehouse mortgage? Just a thought.
Where has she been for the past 25 years (Nevada’s life time so far)? I’m betting on evil, evil, evil.
Maybe she wanted to buy up the mortgage to protect them from Augustine. Maybe she went to Augustine to confront him–but found he had the [fake] hex… Which he tricked Nevada into applying, since he’s actually Caeser… (Or they could have been working together as a way to test her strength.)
I don’t want him to be Caeser–I want Rogan to have at least one friend.
~~~~
Ya know, I was really annoyed when the publisher decided to delay White Hot, but I’m glad they wanted 2 and 3 released closer together.
Not only that, if she were reasonable, she could have tried to have a conversation with Augustine when she went to go see him. Instead, she turned around when she realized his mind was protected and left without saying a word. That kind of indicates that if she can’t take the info fro someone’s mind, it’s not worth the effort to engage. Arrogant at best and evil at worst. In either case, it doesn’t indicate she’s the type to engage in coversation and listen to the concerns and needs of other parties.
Thank you!
The best idea would be to assassinate her.
I think the should have Catalina use her powers in E.G. … And she’ll end up loving them!
Mad Rogan vs Kate at Alpha Showdown??
I can’t decide. So I didn’t vote. I love them both so much.
I voted for Kate.
Yay! A countdown!!! Thank you Ilona and Gordon for the snippet
Argghhh! It took freaking forever for the clock to change from 47 days to 46 days! I can’t handle it! The stress!
WF is going to be so great, I seriously can’t wait for my copy. This series, like all of your works, is super addictive. Thank you for the snippets!!
Thank you for the snippets. They are like drops of water in a thirsty land! Here in Singapore, we have to wait an extra twelve hours after the release date before we can download the book. Boohoohoo!
I can’t tell you both how much I admire your work and I can’t thank you enough for sharing your genius with us. AUTHORLORDS REIGN FOREVER!!!!
My guess: “MICHAEL LATIMER. Very powerful, very dangerous.” = CAESAR
I’m a little lost… When does Chapter 1, and part 1 of the Chapter 2 were publiced?
published, sorry…
As a teaser at the end of White Hot!