Aspect and Anchor

When I went to my neighbor's apartment to investigate strange sounds, I never expected to fall through a portal into another world. Yet here I am, a stranger in an even stranger land...and I'm stranded. In this world, might makes right, men carry swords, and gods walk the earth. Within minutes of arriving, I'm enslaved. The one person that might be able to help me is also the one person I want to throttle most. Aron, Lord of Storms, Butcher God of Battle, is my new companion. Or rather, I'm his.

Adventure. It's what my boring life is missing, so when I fall through a portal into another world, I'm excited. Here, I'm important. Here, I'm special. I find out just how special when I meet Death. He's been exiled to the mortal realm to work through his flaws, and he's just as spoiled and awful as you'd think. Rhagos, the Shadow Lord, is arrogant and rude and controlling and demands to get his way. He's selfish. He's impossible. He's also utterly gorgeous.

When I find a gorgeous stranger in an alley, covered in blood, you'd think the logical thing would be to go to the authorities. Not me. I take him home. I've got my reasons, though. See, Kassam is cursed with hedonism. He's a god from another world, accidentally stuck in ours. Anyone (and everyone) around him falls under his spell. It's impossible to resist. Like scratching an itch. And being around Kassam? Boy, do I itch. But trying to send the god home to his world is a near-impossible task.

All my life I have served. One lord after another, I have given them my time, my body, and my soul. My newest lord, however, is not one but three. I have become the anchor to the three Aspects of Fate, the mortal chosen to teach the gods humanity. It seems an impossible task for any mortal to satisfy a god's wishes and I must serve three? Three lords means three times the frustration, three times the petty demands . . . and three times the pleasure.

Valessa is in danger. Her town has been captured by Aventinian raiders, the women taken, and now she's on a ship destined for nowhere good. But when a terrifying, four-armed sea-ogre pirate boards the ships and demands compensation, Valessa's luck changes. The sea-ogre demands a bride. It's the perfect opportunity for her to escape. Valessa volunteers. She tells everyone she's very experienced with sea-ogres and knows just how to please them. She's very descriptive about it, too. Thing is . . . Valessa's a liar.