#merchantverse

FULL NOVEL RELEASE on JANUARY 31st - EXCLUSIVE to REAM & PATREON ONLY

In the dangerous, ethereal realm of the fae, alliances between the Seelie and Unseelie fae merchants are few. Some say impossible. Matan, a Seelie fae and peacock pheasant shifter with a talent for trade, must keep his Seelie alignment a secret as he embarks on a perilous journey to gather wealth and save a loved one from a terrible curse. He joins an Unseelie merchant caravan of fae who would surely eat him if they learned of his alignment. The enigmatic Udir, a paranoid Unseelie master of poisons and bearded vulture shifter, discovers Matan’s secret and threatens to blackmail him in exchange for vile favours. But Udir’s bravado and bluster hides a painful past and Matan isn’t as innocent or as naïve as he seems. Amid bustling markets, savvy clients, and travelling to new lands Matan has never seen before, Tradewinds is a story of love, found family, trust, betrayal, and the healing that can grow in the shadows of the vibrant, perilous southern fae lands.

Excerpt from Tradewinds, coming January 31st!

‘I’ll do anything you want,’ Matan heard himself say, even as frustration pinged at him like tiny bees. ‘You have to,’ Udir said, his teeth gleaming briefly. Anger surged and he ground his teeth together. He could manage this, he had to. He had to keep himself intact, had to get enough money for Latif, and he was a merchant – everything was negotiation, barter, trade. ‘What…what would you want from me?’ Matan said, injecting a tremor of fear into his voice. ‘Are you a rapist, too?’ Udir paused, fingers stilled on Matan’s side. ‘You hate us,’ Udir said finally. ‘You don’t even understand. Yes, there are some Unseelie who feed upon…who feed upon rape and sexual violence. For the record, we don’t like a lot of them either.’ ‘So you just feed on extorting sexual violence?’ Another pause, Udir made a faint sound in his throat. Matan held very still when he felt cold metal press against his ribs. The gun. ‘Don’t,’ Matan said.

Excerpt from Tradewinds, coming January 31st:

A sudden, heavy flapping sound; distressed wing-beats. Matan looked up, alarmed, to see Udir in true-form, winging low towards the caravans at speed. Matan saw dark flecks of liquid shaken off Udir’s body with every stroke of his wings. He was bleeding. He’d been wounded. Pale yellow eyes barely took him in, a beak open and sharp tongue panting. Instead of executing a neat landing, Udir slammed straight into the second caravan, leaving a smear of blood on the tarp. He fell in a flutter of wings as Matan rushed towards him. ‘Udir! Are you all right?’ The great, injured bird said nothing. A patch of ivory-cream feathers on Udir’s chest were stained dark with blood. Udir wasn’t shifting back into hybrid or human-form because he was in too much pain. Everyone knew that when a shifter wouldn’t change back, they were trying to use their true-form to handle the worst of an injury. ‘Hey,’ Matan said, making his voice soothing. ‘Hey it’s okay. It’s going to be all right.’ He had no idea what he was talking about. He stiffened and looked around for any signs of birds or fae approaching, anyone who wanted to do them harm. There was no one around. He carefully tried to reach for Udir, wanting to pull him out of the churned up dirt at least, but Udir’s hooked beak went for him, snapping weakly. Then he stumbled, a wing stretching out to stop him from falling sideways. Matan clambered up the second caravan, ready to wake Biani and Mara, when Red and Kaulo arrived – huge shadows in the sky that made Matan cringe and feel a terrible, primitive fear. They landed, changing into human-form immediately. ‘Pack up! We’re leaving now!’ Kaulo shouted, and he disappeared into the second caravan. ‘Come here, Udir,’ Red said, approaching Udir, a stern look on his face. Udir wasn’t listening to any of them, eyes wild. Red didn’t flinch when he took a nasty beak slash to the arm. His movements were steady as he firmly grasped Udir in his hands. ‘That’s it,’ Red said softly, arm bleeding as Udir struggled in his grip. ‘We’re getting out of here, Udir. Calm down.’

Hurt/comfort in a Fae Tales story? It's more likely than you'd think!

I'm guessing Udir is the top in this story lmao

I'm really enjoying Tradewinds so far! Udir is such a baby, I have such soft feelings for him. And Matan is so sweet, definitely one of your more gentle tops.

I'm trying to pace myself with reading it because I don't want it to end too soon but it's a struggle lol

Yeah Matan's definitely one of my gentler tops! For people who really only like vanilla with very little kink, Tradewinds is the place to be (for now, lol), because like the Perth Shifters series, it doesn't really go in that direction.

Hi anon!

On Patreon, Tradewinds will be available in .epub format which is the standard e-reader format (for Kindle app, Books app and more, which are all free to download). All e-readers generally let you adjust the size of the font as well as the background and margins to your comfort levels, so that will actually be way more convenient than PDF!

On Ream, Tradewinds will be available both on Ream's in-built native reader, and to download in .epub format. :D

Hi anon!

So I actually wrote all of Tradewinds in 2014. It's since had several major edits (one in 2015, and one in 2017).

As a result of that, The Court of Five Thrones didn't exist/wasn't finished when I started Tradewinds, and it was pretty much done long before I started The Ice Plague.

So Tradewinds is set during Albion's reign as Seelie King, post Game Theory. I'd need to double check the exact timeline, because honestly the core canon cast aren't really mentioned often.

I know Gulvi is because Gulvi trained with the Council of Lammergeiers (the world's best assassins) and Udir is a Lammergeier shifter, so he's very familiar with that world. And I believe Gwyn and Albion are. But none of them are in the story, and it's very 'separate.'

But yeah definitely not any time near The Ice Plague. :D

So looking forward to Tradewinds. Just curious, does it end on a cliffhanger? And it does will there be a sequel? Because I tend to feel less anxious when I know beforehand before going into a fic. Thank you!

Hi anon!

Tradewinds doesn't end on a cliffhanger, the main storyline is resolved.

There are some open endings for some of the other characters, which suggest that it can definitely have a sequel or other parts to the series, but it will mostly depend on how people feel about the first book!