TARNISHED by Erica Rose Eberhart ~ Guest Post & Giveaway

Tarnished (The Elder Tree Trilogy, #1)
by: Erica Rose Eberhart
Series: The Elder Tree Trilogy
Genre: LGBTQ+ Fantasy
Release Date: January 21, 2025
Publisher: Creative James Media

In the struggling city of Braewick, a determined 20-year-old gate guard named Ailith MacCree longs for a chance at financial stability and adventure. Little does she know, her wish is about to come true. She accepts a mission from Princess Greer that promises both: escort Princess Caitriona to the Endless Mountains to meet the enigmatic hermit for a great financial reward. Ailith jumps at the opportunity and bids goodbye to all she's ever known. But as they journey together, Ailith discovers that Caitriona holds a dangerous secret-she possesses powerful magic in a kingdom where magic is outlawed.

Ailith and Caitriona face mysterious attacks and supernatural challenges. But as they delve deeper into the treacherous landscape, Ailith learns of Caitriona's tragic past and the dark curse that threatens her very existence.

With rebellion brewing in Braewick, and the oppressive king hot on their trail, Ailith must not only navigate her growing feelings for Caitriona, but also fight against relentless foes. As they race against time to stop the curse, Ailith and Caitriona uncover shocking truths about their kingdom, their families, and themselves.

Will their burgeoning romance survive the trials ahead? Can they break the curse and save their homeland from tyranny? Join Ailith and Caitriona on a thrilling quest filled with magic, danger, and heart-pounding adventure. Fans of high-stakes fantasy will not want to miss this epic tale.

Reflecting Creative Joy in Fantasy

When I set forth to create the world of Visennore in Tarnished, I knew it would be a post-Roman-based world, something you’d encounter when diving into Arthurian legend or visiting a ren faire (that alone is a bit of a time jump but bear with me). While I’m a life-long scholar and thrive through learning, I am not well-versed in the existence of this time frame to a historic degree. This, for me, is why fantasy works—particularly when creating a world like Earth but not quite. It allows me to create a landscape similar to what we picture in our minds but I take liberties with what exists. 

Visennore is a continent of marshes, beach towns, snow-capped mountains, and rich valleys. It’s filled with humans and fae, and an assortment of creatures of magical varieties from dragons to cockatrice. This is a world entirely fictional with only loosely based ties to what we know of our world’s past (whether factual or simply folklore beliefs). It makes it abundantly easy to do with the world as I will. A character obtaining a chair with wheels so he can move about without the use of his legs? Check. Lanterns? Check. I haven’t time for just candles and torches. This is my world to create and I want areas of it to be helpful to the characters while in some others, it benefits them to struggle.

But this goes beyond creating a more inclusive world with some easier to handle objects from more modern times. I wanted crafts regularly represented and was able to represent my more creative side through the inclusion of pastimes I enjoy.

My main character, Ailith MacCree, is a poor gate guard who works nonstop to make enough money so she may take care of her family. She yearns to travel the great world and live comfortably. Not so much where she doesn’t work, just comfortably enough where she isn’t constantly taking double shifts only to still run out of funds. Her mother is a former seamstress who knows how to move a needle with skill due to necessity—it’s a way to make money and also necessary in mending the worn clothing they have—and taught Ailith these skills as well.

While Caitriona, the other main character in the novel, has been taught embroidery as a woman’s task and form of entertainment, it’s merely something to be done to pass the time and provide gifts or art for the castle. She’s a princess after all; she doesn’t have to work hard to get her bare necessities. But Ailith is different. Her mother lost her eyesight and can no longer work, her father is disabled and lost his job, and she’s left trying to care for the entire household. A task that’s viewed as a craft for Caitriona—as well as myself (I love to crochet and embroider for fun)—is a necessity for Ailith. Her mother embroidered not for entertainment but for money. Ailith knits not for fun but because it’s cheaper for her to purchase yarn and create clothing or darn holes in socks than pay for the clothing already made. 

While I was writing Tarnished I had a beta reader point out that knitting didn’t exist in this time period and it brought me pause and a bit of a chuckle. Who am I to determine whether or not knitting existed in this time? I’m the writer, the creator of this world, and in it knitting exists even if the knitting needle we know of today didn’t specifically exist in the similar 5th century. The joy of writing fantasy and a world separate but similar to ours is that I can be loose with invention dates. And so Ailith knits to provide warmth for her family and that knitting, that work to provide warmth, slowly transforms into what we see knitting as today—a labor of love. As the story progresses and her livelihood changes she’s able to knit not for necessity but to express her feelings. This is most similar to real life, where if given the opportunity to have some comfort and room to stretch, people can enjoy things for the sake of enjoying them rather than only for survival.

Through this inclusion of crafting which I enjoy, I wanted to express the love I place in it myself through my characters. In my own world, this modern one, when I crochet or embroider it’s an action made with love and joy. I do it because it is fun and I give those pieces to others because I love them. By the end of the novel, Ailith is able to say “I love you” through sending finished scarves and hats she knit with yarn she could afford to buy and give away. It doesn’t matter the time frame and inventions that occurred in this fantasy world. Fantasy has such power to it because you can truly make it your own. If you’re given a fantasy world, what abundant, creative joy would you bring into it?

Pushing the thought away, ignoring her hands and how they both frightened and fascinated her, she attempted to move Ailith. An arrow stuck out from the guard’s left arm muscle and her shirt rapidly turned red from the graze on her side.

It was the fall from the horse that worried Caitriona most. Ailith moaned beneath Caitriona’s urging to get her to her feet, her head rolled backwards, her brown eyes dark with dilated pupils. “Ailith, I’ve got you. Just walk when I do. That’s right, one foot after another.”

As she stumbled forward, pulling Ailith along, Caitriona looked at the ring of fire that guarded them and to the sky where the smoke rose. More crows flashed overhead, flying ever north, and Caitriona turned her sights in that direction, willing the flames with her mind to spread outward and release the earth to create a pathway for them.

As the fire bowed and stepped backward, listening dutifully to its maker, Caitriona shifted Ailith’s weight against her and found no inkling of surprise that the flames were so easily persuaded—this magic fire of her own making. She allowed the blaze to follow behind as a heated entourage and moved northward with her guard held tight against her side.

To the men beyond the flames, unable to tame the fire no matter their method, they saw the princess moving forward with the determined step of a queen wearing a crown of smoke.

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Erica Rose Eberhart grew up in the Catskills region and spent many formative years in both Eastern Pennsylvania and Northern Virginia. She now resides with her family and cat in the Finger Lakes region of New York. A technical editor by trade, she has a Master’s degree in English and Creative Writing. Erica has written stories since she was able to write sentences and has found comfort in fantasy her entire life, whether by consuming fantastical stories or creating her own. Beside the comfort of books, Erica adores nature walks, crocheting, embroidery, cats, baking and autumn. You can follow her many adventures on social media. Tarnished is her first published novel.

Places to find Erica Rose Eberhart:

Website | Instagram | Goodreads | TikTok | Threads | BlueSky

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