A Heart of Stone and Fire (Beneath the Veil Book 4)

The gripping fourth installment in Aimee Roseland’s Beneath the Veil Anthology continues with A Heart of Stone and Fire.

Athena is a normal girl, with a normal job, living in a very abnormal world. Vampires and werewolves are just two of the new races listed next to the little box on the census form. Gargoyle and poltergeist shares space with married and divorced, as common as you please. Freaky. And you can forget about discrimination being a question of color. Now it’s a question of: -Human, -Mixed Breed, or, -Other.

Like most people who woke up looking human on V-day, Athena was tested to find out for sure whether or not her little box on the census was going to change.

Nope. Not even a speck of telekinesis. No special powers for Athena. She was still just plain normal.

-Human: Check.

And now she was dying of a normal, human disease.

Cancer. How average is that?

What bothers her the most about the whole “dying” thing is the fact that she never actually got to live, first. Athena grew up in a children’s home after her parents were killed in a car accident. She was the poster child for procreation: never got into fights, never back-talked, never stepped outside the lines. And she always lived very carefully after she moved out and got her own apartment. No debt, no bad relationships; she’s never done anything notable in her whole life. She could disappear and nobody would even notice.

That realization is what spurred Athena into finally taking action. She has nothing to lose anymore, right? Now is the perfect time to have an adventure, and she’s intent on fulfilling her new bucket list that begins at her dream location in New York City: Bloomingdales.

What she doesn’t realize is that Athena is far from normal, and her little adventure is about to land her and her guardian gargoyle right in the lap of a selfish demi-god. Horus is intent on reclaiming all the power and wealth from his glory days in ancient Egypt, and he believes that Athena holds the key to accomplishing that.

Gestein has protected Athena since she was a child. The giant gargoyle is an invisible presence in her life, and he hides the fact that he watches her day and night, just as he’s done every minute of every day since their paths crossed twenty years ago. Gestein will stop at nothing to defend Athena and allow her to realize the true potential locked inside her, because, as Horus discovered, she is far more unique than she could possibly realize.

Gargoyles are one of the most powerful creatures in the new breeds, and they are known as much for the strength of their honor as the strength of their sword. They rarely make mistakes, but the one time that Gestein truly failed is the only time that actually mattered to Athena.

Though their journey will be treacherous, Gestein offers no less than his own life to ensure Athena’s safety. What he doesn’t realize is that she is willing to give him something even greater in return: forgiveness.



This novella is approximately 33,500 words long and is the fourth book in the Beneath the Veil Anthology. Please watch for the fifth installment A Constant Rapture slated for publication in September 2013.