Runaway (Emmylou Kotzé)

An experimental m/m sword-and-sorcery novella (19,000 words) featuring a deeply closeted knight in a long-term secret romance with a promiscuous bisexual cleric.

A tragic romance between knight and cleric, a classic conflict in the human heart between love and duty...

Gathir, senior commander of the knights of Queen Nandira, has spent his life in loyal service to the queen, surrogate father and mentor to her only heir, the beautiful and unruly Princess Zemida.

But beneath the ivory armour of the perfect knight, Gathir harbours a secret, forbidden passion for another man: Zaras, a magic-wielding cleric.

Despite Gathir's own bouts of confusion and jealousy, not to mention the strict vows of knighthood that bind him, the two lovers have kept their association successfully hidden in the shadows of the court for these past eighteen years.

When Princess Zemida runs away with the son of a nomad chieftain, it falls to Gathir and Zaras, as knight and cleric, to fetch her back. Wrestling with Zemida's betrayal, Gathir finds himself torn between his duty towards the princess and his love for Zaras.

Even as the man he loves above all things urges him to turn back, Gathir stubbornly pushes them both onward, deeper into the intrigue that Zemida has woven, into the sinister desert, domain of the sand-witches, where mundane steel cannot protect them...

Paperbacks:

Lulu Bookstore

Amazon

Be Aware:

This short novella is intended for mature audiences (over 16s).

This book depicts violence and tragedy typical of the sword-and-sorcery genre, including various methods of violent death, killing of fantastical creatures, and romance without a clear happily-ever-after. This book also deals with misogyny and queerphobia in a fantasy setting close to that of our real-world history.

This book is centred around a forbidden romance between two men and contains moderately “spicy” m/m sex scenes (short and not described in explicit detail).