The Crystal Crux Series tale unfolds in ten days over five books.
Betrayal
Blue Grotto
Cold Knight
Shimmer
Beautiful

Today, August 17, 2026
is exactly 828 years after the fourth day in my book series.
The year was 1198.

I decided early on to begin each day of the series with a scripture I felt sort of captured the essence of something major happening in the story on that day.

On DAY FIVE, Pero is the unstable, double-minded man.
“Don’t give in, Pero,” Pero thought to himself. “This isn’t real. It can’t be real. Whatever it is, refuse to believe it. It’s madness. We must not be taken by madness.”
I purposefully used the “we” instead of “I” because I want the reader to know that Pero is being pulled by several variations of himself, the man he really is, and the men he imagines he could be.
Pero is currently trapped in a cave on a snow-capped mountain. There is no way in and no way out. Everything is ice. No food. No water. The cave isn’t very deep and offers little protection from the elements. He’s exposed and naked beneath a bearskin cloak.
Pero has words with an old man who identifies himself as another Fabbro brother, this one being Avenel, the one who abandoned his birthright and carried his mother Meliore into the wilderness for penance for his sins.
Avenel arrived on the ledge outside his cave flying a griffin named Aerion (It’s not really a griffin. Pero imagines the qilin to be a griffin). He says he’s there to help Pero, but Pero doesn’t understand how. Pero also comes to realize that his friends in Capua have been betrayed like he was. Him leaving Capua accomplished nothing.
As things begin to fracture and fall apart, the griffin is spooked and flies away. A whirlpool drags Pero down into its depths.
Francis, having found his old squire, Merle, is aboard the War Queen, resting.
But rest isn’t what Francis wants. He is haunted by the memory of his wife and child. He wants to go home. He wants to go back to Capua even if it means dying. He believes he should be dead already.
The English can’t muster an army but Merle, the White Rose, has a hundred men. They will do anything for Francis, including following him back to Capua.
Anthea is being kept in Rugerius’ apartment in Parthenope. She can’t stand all the erotic art but still feels different after a vision she had inside the magician’s crystal placed her temporarily inside a wolf’s body. She enjoyed the freedom, the hunger and the lust, things Anthea is not accustomed to feeling or experiencing.
Sinibaldus, the giant magician, has servant girls to deliver food and Anthea invites them in and feeds them, not realizing everything is tainted with poison to harm her.
Sinibaldus thinks if he can weaken Anthea’s body, he might also weaken her spirit which is still resisting his intrusions into her mind.

I am counting down all ten days in a row this week and offering up one of my favorite passages from each day.

The excerpt below is about Gisele. Mercenaries entered her village, but she left before they found her. It’s the middle of the night and she doesn’t know where else to turn for help but to Pero. Pero promised to help her if she ever needed help. No other man had ever done, none but her brother, Cambio, who was still in the village.
Gisele heads for Eagles Pass, against her better judgement.

Gisele looked at the field and there was light everywhere. Angels walked by eating bread and sipping tea. Half-naked nymphs bathed in a nearby stream as a flight of faeries with shiny blue wings fluttered overhead in the company of partridges. Butterflies fluttered by her head, and she could hear their tiny wings. Gentle unicorns with wings and horns nibbled on blades of grass beside a herd of young deer.
‘I am not alone.’
Gisele danced by and through them all, having seen them before. And per her mother’s instructions, she did not stop to interact with them. Her mother said it was better to keep the two worlds separate.
Excerpt – Cold Knight

I’ll be back to post something about DAY SIX tomorrow.
Until then, stay inspired and keep reading!