Autumn Thorns

PRAISE FOR YASMINE GALENORN'S NOVELS

“
Autumn Thorns
mesmerized me . . . A fantastic, perfect blend of myth and modern, nightmare and dream, love and loss. I want to return to Whisper Hollow again and again!”

—Rachel Caine,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Yasmine Galenorn creates a world I never want to leave.”

—Sherrilyn Kenyon, #1
New York Times
bestselling author

“Erotic and darkly bewitching . . . a mix of magic and passion.”

—Jeaniene Frost,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Yasmine Galenorn is a hot new star in the world of urban fantasy.”

—Jayne Ann Krentz,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Yasmine Galenorn is a powerhouse author; a master of the craft who is taking the industry by storm, and for good reason!”

—Maggie Shayne,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Spectacularly hot and supernaturally breathtaking.”

—Alyssa Day,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Simmers with fun and magic.”

—Mary Jo Putney,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Yasmine Galenorn's imagination is a beautiful thing.”

—Fresh Fiction

“Galenorn's gallery of rogues is an imaginative delight.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Pulls no punches . . . [and] leaves you begging for more.”

—Bitten by Books

“It's not too many authors who can write a series as long-lived as this one and make every book come out just as interesting and intriguing as the last, but Yasmine Galenorn is certainly one of them . . . Her books are always enchanting, full of life and emotion as well as twists and turns that keep you reading long into the night.”

—Romance Reviews Today

“Explore this fascinating world.”

—TwoLips Reviews

“As always, [Galenorn] delivers intriguing characters, intricate plot layers, and kick-butt action.”

—
RT Book Reviews
(four stars)

Berkley titles by Yasmine Galenorn

The Otherworld Series

WITCHLING

CHANGELING

DARKLING

DRAGON WYTCH

NIGHT HUNTRESS

DEMON MISTRESS

BONE MAGIC

HARVEST HUNTING

BLOOD WYNE

COURTING DARKNESS

SHADED VISION

SHADOW RISING

HAUNTED MOON

AUTUMN WHISPERS

CRIMSON VEIL

PRIESTESS DREAMING

PANTHER PROWLING

The Indigo Court Series

NIGHT MYST

NIGHT VEIL

NIGHT SEEKER

NIGHT VISION

NIGHT'S END

The Fly by Night Series

FLIGHT FROM DEATH

The Whisper Hollow Series

AUTUMN THORNS

Anthologies

INKED

NEVER AFTER

HEXED

Specials

ICE SHARDS

ETCHED IN SILVER

THE SHADOW OF MIST

FLIGHT FROM HELL

Berkley Prime Crime titles by Yasmine Galenorn

GHOST OF A CHANCE

LEGEND OF THE JADE DRAGON

MURDER UNDER A MYSTIC MOON

A HARVEST OF BONES

ONE HEX OF A WEDDING

Yasmine Galenorn writing as India Ink

SCENT TO HER GRAVE

A BLUSH WITH DEATH

GLOSSED AND FOUND

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

AUTUMN THORNS

A Jove Book / published by arrangement with the author

Copyright © 2015 by Yasmine Galenorn.

Excerpt from
Darkness Raging
copyright © 2015 by Yasmine Galenorn.

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

JOVE® is a registered trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

The “J” design is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

For more information, visit
penguin.com
.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-40649-0

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Jove mass-market edition / November 2015

Cover art by Tony Mauro.

Cover design by Danielle Abbiate.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

To my mother, Helen, and my sister, Claudia.
Both long gone, and yet both still visiting through the Veil . . .

I have a usual list of suspects to whom I owe a great deal when I'm writing a book. To my editor, Kate Seaver, and agent, Meredith Bernstein, for encouraging my vision and supporting it. To my husband, Samwise, who is one of the most supportive men I've ever met. To Andria and Jenn, my assistants who help make it possible for me to write three books a year and stay sane. To my readers, who buy the books and support my fan base—without enough readers buying the books, authors wouldn't be getting contracts. And lastly, to Ukko, Rauni, Mielikki, and Tapio—my spiritual foundation.

You can find me on the web at galenorn.com, and all the links to my newsletter and my social networks can be found there. If you want to contact me, please e-mail me through my contact page on my website, or send snail mail through my publisher. Please include a self-addressed stamped envelope if you want a reply.

Dear Reader:

I welcome you to my new Whisper Hollow series. This world, when I first envisioned it, began to haunt my dreams and waking life, and I knew I had to write about it. The characters and world came to life and are firmly established in my head and keyboard now! I hope that you enjoy your time spent in Whisper Hollow, and that you'll be back for Kerris's next adventure.
Dreaming Death,
the next book in the series, will be out in October 2016.

Next up, in February 2016, will be
Darkness Raging.
This will be the last Otherworld book from Berkley, but rest assured, I plan on continuing the series on my own after that. After
Darkness Raging
will be
Flight from Mayhem,
the second Fly by Night book, in August 2016.

For those of you new to my books, I hope you enjoy your first foray into my worlds. For those of you who have followed me for a while, I want to thank you for taking a chance on my new series. Check my website, galenorn.com, for information on my newsletter, short stories, release info, and links to where you can find me on the Internet.

Bright Blessings,
The Painted Panther
Yasmine Galenorn

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.

MARTIN BUBER

'Twas now the very witching time of night,

When churchyards groan, and graves give up their dead . . .

THOMAS INGOLDSBY

Advice for Visitors to Whisper Hollow

1. If you hear someone call your name from the forest, don't answer.
   
2. Never interrupt Ellia when she's playing to the dead.
   
3. If you see the Girl in the Window, set your affairs in order.
   
4. Try not to end up in the hospital.
   
5. If the Crow Man summons you, follow him.
   
6. Remember: Sometimes the foul are actually fair.
   
7. And most important: Don't drive down by the lake at night.
   

Whisper Hollow:
Where spirits walk among the living, and the lake never gives up her dead.

The Morrígan, Night Mare Queen, and Goddess of Sovereignty, Queen of Shapeshifters and Mother of the Fae, culls the dead from the battlefield and gathers them to her, under the embrace of her feathered cloak. She is mother to the Bean Nighe and the Bean Sidhe, the sirens of the spirit world, who warn of death to come by vision and by song. She is mother to the Crow Man, who haunts the woodlands, surrounded by a murder of crows, carrying her messages to those to whom she would speak. The Crow Man walks before the goddess, announcing her appearance. He speaks through the raven and the crow, and to ignore his summons is to ignore the gods. Do so at your own risk.

But not all dead wish to stay in their shadowed realm, and not all dead understand the reality of their situation. And in some lands, the energy of the Veil is so strong that spirits can walk freely between the worlds. So it was that the Goddess of Crows engendered nine great families—the bloodline passing through the maternal side—of women born to drive the wandering ghosts back into their graves, to stand between the dead and the living as protectors. The Morrígan's daughters, known as the spirit shamans, are charged with these duties.

To each spirit shaman, a match is born—a shapeshifter by birth. He will be her protector and guardian. They will be forever bound. And to each spirit shaman, a lament singer will be assigned—a daughter of the Bean Sidhes. She will bring her magical songs to complete the triad. Together, these triads will protect the portals of the world that lead into the realm of Spirit, and keep the dead from flooding the land of the living.