T. Rae is currently working on Fate's War, book three of her Fate's Journey series. Her main character, Fate Floyd, began her journey in book one, Fate's Fables, a naive fantasy geek who bumbled through more than half of the darkly enchanted fairy tales she was trapped within, before she took the sword by the hilt and tasted true power. Unfortunately, Fate was stripped of her super powers in the second book, Fate's Keep, and was forced to dig deep for the courage and strength to survive even greater perils. In Fate's War, Fate takes extreme measures to level up and face the evil forces weighing down on her from all sides. 

T. Rae is now sharing top secret exclusive first chapter excerpt of Fate's War. 

Chapter 1 – Fate’s War
Doomsday
Fate pulled back the arrow, straining the bow, directing the sum of all her failures through the muscles of her arms and down the steel shaft. She held the full draw until her bow arm trembled. Inhaling deeply, she relaxed her shoulder and released the arrow.

The shot cut the air, slicing through the holographic Chimera’s leathery wing.

“Damn,” she muttered. Another soft shot. Thirty arrows in, and she still hadn’t hit the creature’s vulnerable underbelly. She couldn’t seem to relax her fingers on the release and kept dropping her shoulder too much.

She could easily make herself feel better about her rusty archery skills by choosing an easier target, but this was one mark she needed to conquer. When she’d faced the real Chimera a few weeks earlier, she’d had to be rescued by her best friend who’d had far less experience with monsters than Fate had.

Fate’s heart grew heavy, as it always did, at the thought of Jessie and what she must be suffering as a prisoner of the power-hungry sorceress, Kaliena. Was she being tortured? Or was she still the unfeeling automaton Kaliena had turned her into? The last time she’d seen Jessie, there’d been nothing left of her childhood friend. Kaliena had taken control of the Dragon Eye Jessie had been wearing. She was still bothered by the memory of Jessie’s vacant stare as she stood by and watched Kaliena unleash a fiery storm onto Fate that had nearly killed her.

Was Jessie even alive? She hated to think it, but it probably didn’t matter if she was. Either way, her best friend was gone.

Breathing hard against the tightness in her chest, Fate nocked another arrow and let it fly. The dying roar of the holographic Chimera as it thrashed at the arrow stuck in its belly gave her little satisfaction.
Working herself into the ground to sharpen her combat skills would only get her so far. So far all she had to show for it was increased fatigue and aching muscles. Dropping the bow at her side, Fate sighed tiredly as she tilted her head to stare at the electric daylight shining from the training arena’s arched ceiling. She was up against too much. Kaliena’s reach was growing. She’d taken over three-quarters of the Keep already. It wouldn’t be long before she controlled every inch of the arcane storehouse of magical objects.

The dread Fate woke with intensified each morning, wondering if that would be the day Kaliena mounted her attack upon them. She knew deep down inside she would lose if it happened now. The only way she could protect herself and loved ones was if she possessed powers equal to Kaliena’s.

The shadow of her failures inevitably darkened Fate’s thoughts to desperate levels. They haunted her daily. If she hadn’t lost the extraordinary powers she’d gained from a war goddess during her time in the Book of Fables–as well as the courage those powers had given her–she would’ve saved herself from that Chimera. Had she been swift as thought, she could’ve saved Lincoln from being devoured by a dragon. If she’d been stronger, she could’ve kept Jessie from falling under Kaliena’s control.

Everything would be different…better, if Fate hadn’t been reduced to her normal human frailty. She clenched the bow with all her strength. She didn’t know how she would do it, or when, but she was determined to get a major upgrade in the very near future.

“Nice shot, love.”

Startled by Finn’s voice, Fate glanced over her shoulder. He crossed the expanse of the training court in long easy strides. His cotton shirt breezed loosely against his tapered waist as her gaze trailed over him. His hair had grown while they’d been apart. The burnished gold of his wavy hair now grazed his broad shoulders. Her heart raced as the sight of him chased back the darkness like nothing else could. Dropping the bow, she shrugged off the quiver with a clatter of arrows falling over the stone floor and went to him.

Finn smiled, his eyes glittering like emeralds as he took her in his arms. She sank against him, breathing in the woodsy scent of sandalwood soap lingering on his skin and tightened her hold on him. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to the thrill his presence incited after suffering his absence for so long. Their relationship had been riddled with hardships from the moment they’d first met, and even though Finn assured her they would always be together, she couldn’t shake the feeling he would be taken from her at any moment. 

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