At Earth's Edge
by Christine McKay

True love transcends all boundaries—even the ones we erect for ourselves.

Man is an upstart species that was once welcomed by Aderyn's kind—the Others. Like a weed, humans left much in ruin. And the Others retreated behind an enchanted wall guarded by Keepers. Aderyn is one such Keeper. And Man's battles have reached her tower.

Owen, the nearly dead ex-soldier she once found at her gates, is a different sort of man. He didn't want anything—except to give her flowers and make her laugh. As he drank in her healing magic like life-giving water, she drowned in his eyes. She was taught to defend against Man's violence; she was helpless in the face of his kindness.

Now that she has had a taste of it, she would kill to keep it.

Her visions tell her it's only a matter of time before more soldiers attack her boundary. With no intention of failing her people—or losing the man she loves—she uses her magic to unleash an apparition with the power to decimate armies.

But there's a price to be paid—in blood. As the tide of it rises higher, everything she has fought for threatens to slip through her fingers. Including Owen...

Christine McKay's Bio

Christine McKay grew up on a hobby farm in northeastern Wisconsin. She is the oldest of four children and a graduate of Silver Lake College in Manitowoc, WI with a B.A. in Computer Science (and a minor in English). She's worked a variety of jobs: farmhand, waitress, booth operator at a local state park, switch board operator for the college, soil sampler, computer trainer, computer programmer/analyst, database administrator, and report writer. Yes—she is a computer geek at heart. Ask her about DOS, UNIX, vi editor, or her first computer, a Commodore 64 with a tape recorder drive.

She met her husband Keith most unromantically. At a holiday party, Christine remarked she'd lowered her standards to the point where she'd take any man who owned a snow plow (she lived alone in a rural area and was snowed in regularly). One of her co-workers happened to be the wife of Keith's boss, Colin. Colin promptly said, "Hey, Keith has a plow." And a blind date was arranged.

After getting lost, spilling diesel fuel all over herself, and having a bloody nose, she met her future husband-to-be. Keith had agreed to a cross-country skiing excursion having never been on a set of skis. Not surprisingly, neither was impressed with the other. But Fate works in mysterious ways and they gave each other a second chance. They were married the day before Halloween in 1999.

Ms. McKay lives on a rural farm with her husband not far from where she grew up, surrounded by a herd of Boer goats, a llama, a donkey, a mule, and an assortment of dogs, cats, and rabbits.

Curse of Cupid, Ms.McKay's first published story, was released in February 2007 by Ellora's Cave.