Isla’s Oath by Cassandra Page
(Isla’s Inheritance #2)
Publication date: January 20th 2015
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
(Isla’s Inheritance #2)
Publication date: January 20th 2015
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Australia is a long way from the Old World and its fae denizens … but not far enough.
Isla is determined to understand her heritage and control her new abilities, but concealing them from those close to her proves difficult. Convincing the local fae she isn’t a threat despite her mixed blood is harder still. When the dazzling Everest arrives with a retinue of servants, Isla gets her first glimpse of why her mother’s people are hated … and feared.
But Isla isn’t the only one with something to hide. Someone she trusts is concealing a dangerous secret. She must seek the truth and stop Everest from killing to get what he wants: Isla’s oath.
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AUTHOR BIO
Cassandra Page is a mother, author, editor and geek. She lives in Canberra, Australia’s bush capital, with her son and two Cairn Terriers. She has a serious coffee addiction and a tattoo of a cat—despite being allergic to cats. She has loved to read since primary school, when the library was her refuge, and loves many genres—although urban fantasy is her favourite. When she’s not reading or writing, she engages in geekery, from Doctor Who to AD&D. Because who said you need to grow up?
Author links:
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Excerpt:
As we reached the
floor of the valley, my ears strained to hear the sounds of a village going
about its evening business. The air was still. I could clearly hear the sighing
of the distant trees between the rhythmic slapping of our footsteps against the
cobbles. Part of it was the lack of electronic noise from the buildings we
passed—no televisions, gaming consoles or radios chattered here. But it was
more than that. And it couldn’t be that everyone was asleep either. Jack had
already made the point that the duinesidhe were primarily nocturnal.
“Is it normally this
quiet?” I whispered.
Jack shook his
head.
“They’re hiding
from me.” It wasn’t a question; I already knew the answer.
“I warned them you
might be coming. They are cautious.”
“They’re afraid.”
He nodded, eyes
sad.
The thought made my
stomach churn. “Let’s get this done so I can leave and they can get back to
normal then.”
Jack led me through
the deserted streets to a small garden cottage surrounded by bushes and
climbing vines that sagged, heavy with flowers. Most of the blooms were shut
for the night, except for a spray of white evening primrose near the gate. The
sweet, heady scent of the blooms eased my anxiety, intermingling with the
aromas of fragrant herbs—I could smell lavender, basil, lemon balm and
mint—from elsewhere in the garden.
If I were a creature
who collected smells, this was the sort of garden I would grow. Although given
I had a black thumb I might need Aunt Elizabeth to come and tend it for me.
Jack knocked on the
wooden cottage door. There was no answer. I stood patiently by his side for a
minute or so before raising my eyebrows at him. He shrugged apologetically and
knocked again.
Maybe the puca
would be more likely to answer the door if I weren’t standing so close? I
wandered back towards the garden beds. I wasn’t an avid gardener like my aunt.
I knew enough to identify some of the flowers, at least those that were common
Canberra varieties. Most of these plants were strange to me. One, with glossy
green leaves and plump buds, caught my eye. From the wicked, curved thorns that
pierced the stems like the hooked claws of a cat, it was probably a variety of
rose, although not one I’d ever seen. The petals were a vivid royal purple.
I heard murmuring
voices behind me and glanced back to see Jack was bent over double, head poking
through a dog flap in the bottom half of the cottage door. I couldn’t hear what
he was saying but he sounded irritated. A muffled voice replied, “I’ve changed
my mind. Go away!”
Pretending not to
notice, I turned my attention back to the flowers with a sigh, running a
luminescent finger—I didn’t think I would ever get used to that—along the
outside of one of the fat buds. The petal was soft as fine silk.
The flower unfurled
under my fingertip.
I gasped. The
sweet, distinctive aroma of roses in bloom filled the air as, one after
another, radiating out from the flower I’d touched, the rest of the buds on the
bush opened to the night sky.
Interview
with Cassandra Page, author of ‘Isla’s Oath’
ISLA’S
OATH is the second book in the ISLA’S INHERITANCE trilogy. Tell us a bit about
the first book.
The
series is a young adult urban fantasy set in Australia. Isla’s Inheritance
follows Isla’s journey as she discovers that her father has been keeping
secrets from her. She thought her mother died during childbirth, but during the
course of the book she learns there’s a lot more to it than that. Her mother is
fae, one of the ruling class called the aosidhe, and is very much alive—Isla’s
father fled to Australia with Isla when she was a baby to get them both away
from his angry bride.
Unfortunately,
when Isla turns eighteen and becomes an adult, her half-fae heritage starts to
manifest and it draws all sorts of unwanted attention.
What
can we expect from ISLA’S OATH?
In
short: kissing, self-discovery, a sexy bad guy, and some running. (Love the
running!)
The
fae, or duinesidhe, in Australia are almost all refugees of one kind or
another: “lesser” fae who want to live free of aosidhe oppression. Members of
the fae ruling class are renowned for their cruelty. Needless to say, the
duinesidhe wild about discovering a half-aosidhe in their midst, as they’re
concerned not only that she might try to enslave them but about what she might
draw down on them, however inadvertently.
While
trying to navigate that side of her life, Isla is also trying to navigate a new
relationship with Dominic. He’s suspicious of her friendship with Jack, her
duinesidhe friend—largely because Dominic doesn’t know anything about that side
of her life.
And
then Everest, a full-blooded aosidhe, turns up and things get really
interesting.
Reviewers
of ISLA’S INHERITANCE have commented on Isla’s close-knit family. Tell us about
them.
Isla
lives with her aunt and two cousins in the city, because her father’s farm is
far enough out of town that it was difficult for her to get to school each day.
Sarah, the younger of her cousins, is almost the same age as her and is her
best friend. Isla still lives with them now she’s graduated, while she’s trying
to find work and is learning about her fae heritage. And despite her mixed
feelings about the things her dad kept hidden from her for so long, she is
still very close to him in Isla’s Oath.
I
love to see strong families in YA. So often the parents are absent, neglectful
or the bad guys! Isla’s biological mother certainly qualifies in some or all of
those categories, but her aunt is something of a surrogate mother, treating
Isla the same way she does her own children. And while the rest of her family
isn’t all sunshine and roses—she argues with her cousins and doesn’t get on
with her grandmother at all—Isla knows they are there for her and that she can
rely on them when she needs to.
Where
did the idea for Isla’s Inheritance come from?
It was a
combination of a few ideas, but the main one was a story idea I had for a
psychic vampire—the sort of undead critter that feeds off emotions rather than
blood, and can leave people a burnt-out husk. But by then Twilight had already
hit the big time and everyone’s interest in vampires was waning. I decided to
take the basic idea of an empath who can absorb emotions and turn it into
something different. Thus Isla was born.
What
sort of research did you do while planning the series?
I did a lot of
reading about mythological creatures—mostly European ones like the various fae
races—but also some from further afield.
One thing I found
really interesting during my research was seeing the echoes of those myths in
other authors’ books. For example, I’d bet that J. K. Rowling’s Dementors were
inspired by the myths of the sluagh, with a touch of Grim Reaper in their look.
Her house elves are very much like the English myth of the hob. (I also have
hobs in my series, but I made them quite different, partly because I love Dobby
and didn’t want to tread on his toes. I’m glad I did, though, as I’m a big fan
of Jack, my leading hob!)
When
should we expect the third book to hit the selves? And does it have a title
yet?
It’s called
Melpomene’s Daughter, and it’s scheduled for release in April this year. So
excite!
How
do you pronounce aosidhe again?
Ae-oh-shee (the
“Ae” is the same as the a in baby).
Duinesidhe is
pronounced din-a-shee. Sidhe is the word for the faerie mounds. The aosidhe are
the rulers of the mounds, and the duinesidhe are the people of the mounds.
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