[Blog Tour] 'The Steel Rose' (The Boar King’s Honor Trilogy, Book 2) by Nancy Northcott #HistoricalFantasy #TimeTravel

The Steel Rose - Tour Banner

The Book:

The Steel Rose
(The Boar King’s Honor Trilogy, Book 2)
by Nancy Northcott

• Publication Date: April 29, 2021
• Publisher: Falstaff Books
• Page Length: 370 Pages
• Genre: Historical Fantasy/Romantic Fantasy

The Blurb:

The Boar King’s Honor Trilogy

A wizard’s misplaced trust

A king wrongly blamed for murder

A bloodline cursed until they clear the king’s name

Book 2: The Steel Rose

Amelia Mainwaring, a magically Gifted seer, is desperate to rescue the souls of her dead father and brother, who are trapped in a shadowy, wraith-filled land between life and death as the latest victims of their family curse. Lifting the curse requires clearing the name of King Richard III, who was wrongly accused of his nephews’ murder because of a mistake made by Amelia’s ancestor.

In London to seek help from a wizard scholar, Julian Winfield, Amelia has disturbing visions that warn of Napoleon Bonaparte’s escape from Elba and renewed war in Europe. A magical artifact fuels growing French support for Bonaparte. Can Amelia and Julian recover the artifact and deprive him of its power in time to avert the coming battles?

Their quest takes them from the crowded ballrooms of the London Season to the bloody field of Waterloo, demanding all of their courage, guile, and magical skill. Can they recover the artifact and stop Bonaparte? Or will all their hopes, along with Amanda’s father and brother, be doomed as a battle-weary Europe is once again engulfed in the flames of war?

The Steel Rose is the second book in the time-traveling, history-spanning fantasy series The Boar King’s Honor, from Nancy Northcott (Outcast Station, The Herald of Day).

Buy Links: 

This novel is available to read with #KindleUnlimited subscription.

• Universal Link ✔ Amazon UK ✔ Amazon US ✔ Amazon CA ✔ Amazon AU ✔

The Steel Rose - Front Cover

'The Steel Rose' -  Excerpt:

In this excerpt, Amelia and Julian’s Aunt Augusta search his library for clues about the Mainwaring curse and pull books from the shelves to donate to a charity sale. It introduces a possible avenue for lifting the family curse.

***

Despite hours of work, Amelia and Augusta had found nothing helpful about the Mainwaring curse. Now they were having tea before going back to the books Julian had left for them. Fighting frustration, Amelia savored the warm liquid going down her throat. At least she and Augusta had found several volumes of poetry and an old copy of Edward Gibbon’s multi-volume The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire for the charity box.

She glanced to the side, at the secret room that held the oldest books and those about magic. Usually concealed by a bookshelf, it stood exposed today. A touch of Augusta’s hand and a bit of magic had caused that shelf to slide behind the one on the left and revealed Julian’s sanctuary.

Having such a collection of books about magic to read whenever one wished would be divine.

Augusta took a bite of caraway biscuit. “You know, Julian can introduce you to a number of Gifted antiquaries and historians who might be able to help you. In the meantime, you’ll continue with your research here and sort a few books from time to time.”

“That sounds lovely. Thank you.”

“Are you ready to resume our hunt?”

Reading old-style type, with f for s, was fatiguing, but it was necessary. “Of course.”

The two women settled back into their chairs by the hearth. If they could find a clue—even something to trigger a vision or a scrying—that could lead them to proof Richard III hadn’t murdered his nephews, surely that would satisfy the curse.

Amelia had tried again to See or scry any link between king and the armor she’d Seen a few nights ago. Images of a sturdy figure wearing it on the battlefield and others of it packed into a chest had offered no clue. The figure bulged oddly in the upper torso, but that could’ve been an ill-fitting surcoat. The French emblem in the vision posed another puzzle. King Richard had been an enemy of France. Did the flag mean someone he’d fought held the answer she needed?

For now, best to attend to her research and not worry about this mystery.

Amelia picked up the next book on her stack. She and her hostess read in silence.

The delicate chiming of six by the mantel clock drew Amelia out of her book. “This is interesting,” she said. “Many more people than I realized defended King Richard’s honor, no matter how subtly and carefully they had to do it. It’s no wonder they waited until the Tudor dynasty ended.”

Augusta’s mouth turned up in a wry smile. “The more insecure a dynasty, the more likely they are to kill even a remote threat.” She fished a book from her stack. “You should read this one, Horace Walpole’s Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard the Third. Take it home with you if you like.”

“We’re having a quiet evening for once, so I would like to have it.” Amelia accepted the book. “I should go, though. Mama and Aunt Louisa will be wondering where I am.”

“I’ll have James send for the carriage and bring your maid from the kitchen.”

They left the library without closing the secret room. With the Gifted footman away, calling for the carriage, was that wise? Before Amelia could think of a tactful way to ask, Augusta laid her fingertips on the doorknob. Faint silver flared around them, and she smiled. “Just a little ward until I return. Anyone who tries that door will find it stuck. Or so they’ll think.”

They strolled down the corridor to the stairs.

Descending, Augusta sighed. “One cannot help pitying Richard III when he learned his admired elder brother was perhaps not so admirable. Or feeling for poor Lady Eleanor Butler. Years before he met his future queen, King Edward secretly wed her, only to disavow the marriage when it suited him. She thought she’d won the heart of the most charismatic nobleman of the age, that she was Edward IV’s wife and would be his queen.”

“It must’ve seemed too good to be true.”

“As it proved to be.” In a voice as dry as earth in a drought, the older woman added, “She never married again, likely because she believed she would be committing bigamy. Julian says that in those days, a betrothal followed by a bedding made a marriage, with or without the ceremony. According to that book in your hand, a bishop married her to the king, albeit secretly. Of course she believed they were wed.”

“If Edward IV did that to her and later secretly married Elizabeth Woodville, his queen, how many others did he treat the same way between them?”

“We’ll never know. After King Edward died, the bishop told Richard of Gloucester, as King Richard was then, and showed his proofs to Parliament. Proofs that have gone missing. If Edward’s marriage to Eleanor was valid, as Julian and I believe, then his later marriage to his queen was bigamous. That made their children, including the two boys who’re still known as the Princes in the Tower, illegitimate and thus ineligible to inherit the crown.”

Amelia’s heart kicked. “If they had no right to the throne, King Richard had no reason to kill them. That would point to his innocence, perhaps even clear his name.”

Why had Buckingham seen them as a threat? Did he fear the nobility would prefer the sons of Edward IV, illegitimate or not, to him? King Richard would not have shared that fear. He’d acceded to the throne after being asked to do so by the nobility, and he’d subsequently received oaths of allegiance from the higher clergy, the lords, and officials of the City of London. His nephews posed no threat to him.

“If we could find that proof,” Augusta replied.

Nancy Northcott

Author Bio:

Nancy Northcott’s childhood ambition was to grow up and become Wonder Woman. Around fourth grade, she realized it was too late to acquire Amazon genes, but she still loved comic books, science fiction, fantasy, history, and romance. She combines the emotion and high stakes, and sometimes the magic, she loves in the books she writes.

She has written freelance articles and taught at the college level. Her most popular course was on science fiction, fantasy, and society. She has also given presentations on the Wars of the Roses and Richard III to university classes studying Shakespeare’s play about Richard III. Reviewers have described her books as melding fantasy, romance, and suspense. Library Journal gave her debut novel, Renegade, a starred review, calling it “genre fiction at its best.”

In addition to the historical fantasy Boar King’s Honor trilogy, Nancy writes the Light Mage Wars paranormal romances, the Arachnid Files romantic suspense novellas, and the Lethal Webs romantic spy adventures. With Jeanne Adams, she cowrites the Outcast Station science fiction mysteries.

Married since 1987, Nancy and her husband have one son, a bossy dog, and a house full of books.

Connect with Nancy Northcott:

• Website ✔ Facebook ✔ Twitter ✔ BookBub ✔ Amazon Author Page ✔ Goodreads ✔

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