Book: The Healer’s Gift
Author: Barbara Cultrera
Genre: Romance/Fantasy
Release date: September 10, 2013
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions
Ainsland, a virgin widow fleeing from her husband's murderer, and Collum, a healer who possesses supernatural abilities, are brought together by circumstance. What begins as a marriage of convenience for the couple evolves into one of great love and passion. Yet, Collum's tragic past and the ever-looming threat of Ainsland's malevolent pursuer's appearance in their close-knit rural community overshadows their ability to be truly content. When evil strikes and all seems lost, will it be the resilient, headstrong Ainsland who is able to save herself, her husband, and the people she has come to know and cherish or will Collum, determined and wise, somehow manage to rescue the love of his life before time runs out?
Excerpt:
“Collum!” Richard’s voice boomed in his son’s aching brain. “You must stop this or you will not live!”
Richard’s youngest son ceased his struggles and lay still in his father’s arms. In a moment of clarity, the healer forced back the envelope of fever that surrounded him and focused on his weakened body. His skull was knitting itself back together nicely. The ribs and shoulder continued to ache, but the pain was not so acute. Most of his bruises and cuts were healing, albeit slowly. His broken leg throbbed fiercely, and Collum doubted that he would ever walk normally again – if he lived to walk again.
His belly had been badly infected. From the fresh lacerations near the area, he deduced that Jordan must have been waging a repetitive series of battles with persistent infection. Collum imagined what steps he himself would take if he were the healer and Jordan was the patient. It would be a ceaseless cycle of cut, drain, clean, stitch, and dress.
“Father?” Collum rasped in a voice that he himself did not recognize. “Mother?”
“My shining boy,” Vivien said, kissing his temple and stroking his hair. “My little wolf.”
He almost smiled at her use of the old pet name she’d given him when he’d been a baby. She had one for each of them, he recalled. Edward was the little hawk; Landon was the little fox; Grayson was the little foal; Inya had been the little robin; and John was the little deer. It had been years since he’d heard any of these nicknames spoken aloud. He had almost forgotten them completely.
Collum became aware of how badly his back ached. He reasoned that his body was not doing its job of purifying itself. Between the fever and his prolonged periods of unconsciousness, it must have certainly been a trial to get him to take in enough liquids. Significant weight loss was to be expected as well.
“Ainsland,” he mumbled through parched lips. “I – I need her. I must have water.”
And then she was near to him, pulling him against her chest and offering him tiny sips from a cup. He could not have been more content had she offered him her breast. His feeble efforts to touch her hair made her cry. Once the cup had been drained, she passed it to someone and took his hand in hers and brought it to her cheek.
I am dying, Collum thought. My body will cease to function soon if I can’t make it heal.
Barbara Cutrera has been a writer since childhood but didn’t begin writing novels until 1999. She released In a Manner of Speaking, a mystery blended with romance, and Over, Under, Across & Through, Book 1 in The Real World Series, in 2012. Cutrera, a member of the Romance Writers of America and the Florida Writers’ Association, was born and raised in Louisiana and moved to Florida with her husband and son in 2004. She works with the visually-impaired and is visually-impaired herself. She firmly believes that our minds are only limited by the restrictions that we place upon them. That is why her literary credo is, “Transcending reality by exploring it one story at a time….”
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