Author Guest Post with Megan Derr, Unbreakable Soldiers

Lord Vellem is desperate to escape.

Welcome to one of the February 28th stops on the blog tour for The Unbreakable Soldiers Trilogy by Megan Derr with Silver Dagger Book Tours (schedule linked.) Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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Author Guest Post

Music, Music

It’s not really a secret that writers rely heavily on music and other media for inspiration and motivation. Art tends toward creative feedback loops. I’ve had songs that inspired entire books, and I’ve had songs that appeared right as I got stuck and provided what I was missing and enabled me to finish a book. They can also alter a character, a scene, and more. I wouldn’t be where I am without the music that kept me company at my computer, at coffee shop tables, on the bus, and all the other places where I wrote or pondered.

When I wrote The Engineered Throne I’d intended (as I so often foolishly do) for it to be a one-off. The only story in my head at the time was for Vellem, and his initial story was meant to include a dam. My entire inspiration for his story was the breaking of a dam. But as the story unfolded, the dam wound up having to go, replaced by a portion of the palace where most of the story takes place.

Readers and music inspired the two books that wound up following, The Painted Crown and The Stolen Court. So here I’ve listed the songs that drove this trilogy. Normally I’d make a Spotify playlist, but I’m not supporting them anymore after recent events. Instead, I’m just linking to youtube videos and everyone can pick their flavor of music site if there’s a song they like. Since I’m Apple, I’ve also linked a playlist there.

• Breath of Life by Florence + the Machines
• Cut the Cord by Shinedown
• State of My Head by Shinedown
• One More Night by From the Ash
• All Around Me by Flyleaf
• The Mountain by Three Days Grace
• My Fight by From Ashes to New
• Iconic by Ledger
• Natural by Imagine Dragon

About the Books

The Engineered Throne
Unbreakable Soldiers Book One
by Megan Derr

Published 25 August 2019

Genre: LGBTQIA+ Fantasy Romance
Page Count: 379
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Lord Vellem is desperate to escape. His father hides from his problems in alcohol, his mother hides from her misery in drugs, and his brother fled to the relative safety of the royal palace. Vellem found solace in the Royal Army Corp of Engineers, but true escape from a life of violence remains out of reach.

Then his brother provides him with an unexpected chance: marriage to a prince of their country’s oldest enemy to help bring about peace once and for all. The marriage promises Vellem not just a fresh start in a new land, but a challenge to his famed skills in building roads and bridges.

But before he can settle into his new life, tragedy strikes, and Vellem isn’t certain he’s up to rebuilding the ruin left in its wake.

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The Painted Crown
Unbreakable Soldiers Book Two
by Megan Derr

Published 25 August 2019

Genre: LGBTQIA+ Fantasy Romance
Page Count: 332
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Prince Istari has spent his life reviled: his parents wish he had never been born, the royal court of Belemere avoids him for fear of angering the king, and everyone else is kept away by his notorious reputation as a deadly sharpshooter. Now a hostage of peace in Tallideth, he is subjected to their hatred as well—even that of Regent Vellem, who once considered him a comrade in arms.

Unexpected solace comes in the form of Lord Teverem, a sad, quiet lord who assumed the title when his brother was killed in the explosion for which Istari’s father is to blame. He is kind and sweet and a sorely needed bright spot in Istari’s life—until Istari meets his family and learns of a dangerous family secret with unexpected ties to Istari’s past, a secret that could drag Tallideth and Belemere right back into war…

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The Stolen Court
Unbreakable Soldiers Book Three
by Megan Derr

Published 10 February 2022

Genre: LGBTQIA+ Fantasy Romance
Page Count: 315
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Bertin is a liar and a thief. Once an orphan on the street stealing purses, his life was forever changed when he saved a boy’s life—and then became that boy to the rest of the world. But one lie always leads to another, and life as a Belemeren spy planted in the Engineer Corp has led him to the role of liaison in Ruemri, a kingdom he helped Ruemri’s enemies steal.

His primary duty is to watch King Sesta, which means he is himself watched by the whole of Ruemri’s royal court. For a man used to being overlooked and ignored, the situation is a living nightmare. That situation is further worsened when he receives word of an unspecified terrible event that is going to take place—and then the last person he expected arrives, bringing Bertin’s past and secrets with him.

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Excerpt

Once he was dressed in the long, sedately colored clothes favored in Ruemri, nothing at all like the shorter, brightly colored clothes of Tallideth or the somber wear of Belemere, he went to the door that connected his room to Sesta’s. It was an unorthodox arrangement, but Bertin was as much bodyguard as watchdog, given the unique nature of Ruemri’s new king.

Sesta’s private suite was the size of a house, and lavishly decorated enough for several. Bertin had once risked his life daily for enough money to buy three-day old meat, and sometimes just bones that he and his compatriots had boiled and boiled to make a pathetic soup. On particularly bad days, he could still taste that watery broth, the stale bread they’d dunked in it after ripping off the moldy parts. The first time he’d eaten real food, he’d been violently sick afterwards. It had taken days, weeks, for him to be able to eat the way wealthy people did. Even now, the rich foods of the noble classes were sometimes too much for him.

Sesta endured no such struggle, or if he did, he was careful about not showing it. As ever, he sat at the table in his front parlor, bathed in early morning sunlight that turned his red-gold hair into a brilliant flame and his eyes into sunstruck emeralds.

His hair had already been braided and pinned for the day, a crown of fire decorated with gold and diamond beads. He was dressed in dark green with accents of black and gold, in the form of a knee-length tunic split up the sides, with a lining of white and gold that flashed when he moved. His trousers were closely fitted, with black boots nearby that he hadn’t yet bothered to put on.

Sesta was more beautiful than a single person had any business being. Bertin had seen a lot of beautiful people in his life, as a thief looking for promising marks, as a false son struggling desperately to fit in, as a soldier carrying out orders, and a spy looking for secrets. Sesta left them all in the dust.

He looked up from the papers he was reading as Bertin drew close. “Good morning, darling.”

Bertin ignored the endearment, as he always did, because there was nothing Sesta loved more than getting a rise out of people. Especially Bertin, or at least that was how it so often felt. He’d been doing it from the very moment they’d met, when Tallidethen forces had managed to take Sesta prisoner and everything had changed.

Because Sesta wasn’t really Sesta, who’d been a cold-hearted, ruthless bastard fit to put his bloodthirsty parents to shame. No, this was really Kestel Vayne, the former harem slave and whipping boy who’d been forced to live as Sesta all his life.

After Bertin’s people had killed the king and real prince, Kestel could have walked away from the whole sordid ordeal, finally a free man. Instead, he’d agreed to maintain the deception, and now was King of Ruemri, married to a princess of Tallideth he’d likely never meet, at least not for years and years, and watched over by Bertin until such time as Tallideth decided Ruemri no longer required babysitting.

The only pixie in the porridge was that the former queen had gone missing. She hadn’t been in the palace upon their arrival, and as yet Bertin’s resources had not been able to find her. It had, unfortunately, become a waiting game of when she would appear and what move she would make. Given all the scheming that had led to the slaughter in Tallideth, and everything after, it was a good bet that when she reappeared, a great many people would die.

Hopefully, Bertin would find her before that happened, but she was smart, crafty, and slippery. If she was anything less, they wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.

Bertin took his seat at the table and thanked the woman who brought him tea and food. Like the rest of Kestel’s staff, she was more naked than not, wearing clothes of red and gold that brought out the vibrant, swirling blood-red tattoos that covered nearly every stitch of her skin.

Though technically the harems of Ruemri had been outlawed by international treaty more than a hundred years ago, it was clear Ruemri had never given a damn. They just called them ‘servants,’ paid them little better than nothing, and treated them the same as they always had.

Save for Kestel, who’d been one of them while also serving as the real Sesta’s whipping boy. So he maintained them for the sake of appearances and trusted help in maintaining the ruse.

About the Author

Megan is a long-time resident of queer romance and keeps herself busy reading and writing it. She is often accused of fluff and nonsense. When she’s not involved in writing, she likes to cook, harass her wife and cats, or watch movies. She loves to hear from readers and can be found all over the internet.

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