Running behind this morning. Here is a snippet. Got to run to work.
The Keeper of Records turned to me. He was of average height, slim, and old. Time had wrinkled his brown skin, carving a roadmap of years around his eyes and mouth, and turned his hair white. He wore a brown three-piece suit with a copper and black bow tie. His expression was always welcoming, but his eyes, guarded by large glasses, stopped you in your tracks. So dark, they appeared black, they sparkled like two pieces of polished black jade.
“Prime Baylor,” the Keeper said, “it’s been so long. What a pleasure to see you again.”
Mom looked at me. Her eyes were wide.
“Good afternoon, Keeper. Thank you for keeping my mother company. We are so sorry to trouble you.”
The Keeper smiled. His teeth were white and sharp. “It’s not a bother. We’re always happy to visit with House Baylor, aren’t we, Michael?”
Michael emerged from the shadows. He didn’t stride out, he congealed, like some mythical wraith coalescing from darkness. It was probably my imagination, and he must have walked out of some niche between the bookshelves, but one moment it was just the four of us, and then suddenly there were five.
Michael nodded. In his mid-twenties, he wore a black suit with a white shirt that set off his bronze skin. His hair was black and cut short with just enough length on top to keep it from being a buzz cut. Black and grey tribal tattoos swirled over the exposed skin of his hands and neck. His face was handsome, with what people called “good bones,” and his eyes had an odd color, a rich, light hazel, almost yellow when the light caught his irises.
The Keeper turned to Cornelius. “It is wonderful to see you again, Significant Harrison.”
“The pleasure is all mine,” Cornelius said. “It’s been a long time since my trials.”
“Fifteen years, three months, and fourteen days. Should you wish to revisit your certification, our doors are always open.”
Cornelius drew back slightly. “That won’t be necessary.”
“As you prefer.”
I love the idea of Arabella with Michael
Evil authors, teasing us. Please don’t stop.
Am I the only one who thinks The Keeper might also be Caesar?
And I think Arabella would be neat with that Water Prime — whose name I can’t remember — whose brother is the Chinese actor.
But thank you so much AuthorLords for keeping us salivating with these snippets.
Stephen Jiang is the Water Prime 🙂
OK. Saw it above. Stephen Jiang. (Maybe I should read BEFORE posting?)
And I also want to thank Princess Moderator for all her hard work here. Herding cats is tough.
Awesome snippet! Thank you.
I just want to say to Moderator R: you are really excellent at this! Thank you!
????
Thank you!!
The only thing about these wonderful snippets, is the fire lighting up for the rest of the story! LOL! Y’all do great, as always. Thank you!
Ooooooh I’ve always wondered about his certification!
The Keeper (who I can’t help but think of as ‘The Creeper’!)gives me major shivers down my spine…reminds me too much of someone I used to work for! ????
Thank you for the snippet. Waiting with bated breath for the book!
Went down a rabbit hole on the Keeper’s eyes (never heard of black jade, so I was expecting black to be followed by “obsidian” or “onyx”). Looking at the meanings of the different gemstones makes me wonder if House Andrews is trying to tell us something about the Keeper’s abilities:
black jade: https://www.gemstone7.com/019-black-jade.html (see also https://www.gemstone7.com/070-jade.html)
black obsidian: https://www.gemstone7.com/638-black_obsidian.html (see also https://www.gemstone7.com/089-obsidian.html)
black onyx: https://www.gemstone7.com/020-black-onyx.html (see also https://www.gemstone7.com/332-onyx.html)
chalcedony: https://www.gemstone7.com/345-chalcedony.html
After reading the meanings, I would have expected “black onyx”, but I am only a lowly reader 🙂
The image you linked of the black jade almost appears to have eyes in it! Just creepy!
Cornelius is a Prime! I’m not surprised 🙂
Ooh!
The wait so Long
Is like wait for Christmas
When we were kids.
I am dyslexic and male ude of Dictionary.
And danish to english.
SORRY
Sounds like he thinks C is really a prime now!
Oh oh I just figured this out while getting ready to go ride my Andalusian horse…
Cornelius blew his test as 15 years before so he would be out of the prime pressure of his house, sure he passed it well enough but not quite Prime, leaving the house and it Bull to his siblings after a super crappy childhood have to take the brunt from Adam because of his moms friendship to Adams mom…house business..
When he connected with-a Tiger , from another realm we all knew when his sister said (..how can this be) she showed the world her Prime status by having panthers..but he now had a tiger…., and a loyal one….that there was more to Cornelius than his status….
I thought maybe his power grew. That happens where talents grow through use. But your theory is a good one. I wonder how long Cornelius can avoid being a recognized prime
Thank you!
Love it. thankyou for sharing it with us today
Love it! Thank you so much!
I love Cornelius want to hug him and his daughter. His is such a sad story
Forgot to say Thank you. THANK YOU!
Thank you! ????
I sort of like Michael as a love interest for Arabella!
“The Keeper smiled. His teeth were white and sharp. ”
Makes you wonder why his teeth are sharp…Glad to see Michael show up in the book. I hope to see more of him and read the backstory on the Keeper of Records and the job behind it. They are powerful in order to keep the Houses in line. What else can they do –and what happens to people who break Keeper of Records rules?
Sorry to ask this, but will we ever get an Augustine story? The Melvin Rider thing was really intriguing, and I really want to know what happened there. I love your books, BTW. Thank you so much!
+1
I love Augustine! The cold closed off character’s heart melting is a trope I adore! I would die of happiness if he got a book!!
Awesome! Thank you so much! Can hardly wait!
Cackle cackle cakle.
I get Mr. Quinn vibes (from Whyborne and Griffin series) from this Keeper.
So, read the snippet (thank you!) and the comments and have two thoughts (that’s my quota for the day).
1. As one other person mentioned, I think the Keeper is Caesar. He’s the one person that anyone who has their magic tested (not just primes) would meet. And… I’m not going to list all the other reasons in my head in case this is another thing like Cornelius being a secret Prime that has already been addressed in comments and that I missed.
2. This may be because of listening to the audio books (repeatedly), but I thought when Michael said “A mistake.”, he was speaking to the freaked out restaurant employees. Kind of like what the police might say if they busted into a children’s party instead of the meth lab down the street.
Anyway, enough rambling from me.
Look! a kitten!
dangit. I resized and everything.
☹️
Aaaanyway… loved the snippet. Can’t wait for the book! ????
I suspected he was a Prime but was deliberately playing down his ability! Good to get some confirmation! (Sorta. Kinda. In a we-aren’t-going-to-TALK-about-the-secret-just-talk-around-it sorta way.)
Cornelius had so many good reasons for downplaying his status. He was thoroughly ready to place distance between his house after his crappy childhood. He wasn’t interested in the status or the dangers of being a prime. Once he met his future wife Nari, got married, and had a daughter he would have had even more reasons to want to stay out of the dangerous prime waters. We know that Nari’s magical powers were slight and she never bothered to be tested. She would have been a vulnerable target for a more powerful magic user.
I suspect Diana (older sister) knows the truth, but having seen the horrible treatment Cornelius experienced growing up, understands why he prefers to be underestimated. Can you just imagine what the expectations would have been if it was known that Cornelius was a prime like Adam Pierce?
Yes! Cannot wait to read this book!
I have always wondered if maybe Michael is an illusion prime.
When I read about him suddenly appearing from darkness in the above snippet, I remembered the interrupted fight Rogan and Augustine had in Nevada’s office.
The office walls were coated in darkness and bulges had started forming on the wall in that scene.
Moreover, Augustine can disappear for certain period of time as we have read. So, this seems like Michael can do the same too and thus when he made himself visible in the above snippet, it looked like he congealed from the darkness itself.
Next station in my train of thought, I wondered maybe he is Augustine’s younger brother. I must admit I love the thought of Arabella ending up with an illusion prime.
Secondly, I do think Stephen’s younger troublemaking brother might be one of Arabella’s possible love interests instead of Stephen himself. Either way I know I will adore whoever the author’s lead her to end up. Much love. Take care.
Thank you! That explains why he is the only mage ever to connect to with a summon. I agree with Amy Truong that this would be an interesting Q&A to read.
Oooo, love it! Short, but packed full of delicious details!
I was also confused and made the mistake of following up thinking it was an error, and received an email telling me to trust the authors. Lesson learned
Hi Al,
You received an email with a multi-paragraph explanation which hopefully clarified your confusion (it’s 6 am here, so you never know ????); and an urging to please trust the authors ????.
After 23+ books, they know what we need!
I apologize for following the directive from a blog post about what to do if you *think* you found an error, which is to email and not comment it. I see others have also commented the same confusion. All points clarified, I will show myself the exit