Campo Royale #1
Who will emerge the victor on the battlefield of love?
Tyr Hemmingsen had his life mapped out at a young age. The only son of the late Danish hockey great, Elias Hemmingsen, Tyr has always done his best to follow the plans his father had laid out for him. Finish school, make it into the pros, become team captain, find a biddable young lady to marry, and win a championship so the Hemmingsen name lived on eternally on the side of a massive silver cup. Like the good son he is, Tyr has done as his father wished, no matter how it peeled away layers of his true self. Then, all the neatly placed supports that hold up his so-called life come crashing down during a night on the town. Tyr might be known as the “War God of Wilmington” on the ice, but there’s no battling the effect Gigi Patel LeBay has on him.
Elijah McBride lives for the spotlight. As Gigi, he bewitches and bedazzles the crowds at the Campo Royale Club. His vibrant stage persona is the face he presents to the world. Underneath the rouge, eyeliner, and lipstick is a young man who still feels the sting of his parents’ disapproval and rejection of the son who wears wigs and dates other men. With his drag family and older brother in his corner, he’s finally found peace in his life. Until the fateful night a massive hockey player shows up at the club. There’s a world of hurt in Tyr’s soft brown eyes, and Eli finds himself falling for the big man, despite all the barriers he’s built around his tender heart.
The Viking and the Drag Queen is an opposites attract gay romance with heavy checking, lipstick worship, an out and proud queen, a closeted athlete, family lost and found, twink/jock, a new beginning, and a well-cinched happy ending.
Prologue
TYR
“Tellme the story of your namesake.”
I glanced up from where I sat on the floor, the bed at my back. I hated to gaze upon him as he was, yet Mama insisted I not look away. I ran a finger over the threadbare carpet. ‘He needs to see your face, my son,’ she would say, then go hide in the garden shed, her legs tucked under her, staring at the hoes and watering cans sometimes for days. I would bring her food and water when she was in the shed. It was all I could do.
“Can I tell you one of the tales that I wrote?”
“No more talk of writing stories. Put those away. You’ll play hockey…do what I failed to do. Now, tell me the story of your namesake.”
“Which one, Papa?”
When Mama was caught in the darkness that stole her away, I stayed on the floor, the chair beside his bed empty. He would pet my head with a skeletal hand. It was so unlike the strong hand that used to hoist me to my feet after a tumble on the ice.
“The most heroic telling,” he rasped, his fingertips buried in my overly long hair.
I sighed, wishing to be anywhere but in this sick room. All my friends, my teammates, were out playing in the snow or skating on the frozen ponds of Ribe. I was here, alone, watching my father wither away physically as my mother shriveled mentally. It was no place for a twelve-year-old boy, all the neighbors whispered.
“When the dread wolf Fenrir was a mere pup, it was quickly noted that he was growing into a massive hound, far bigger than any other. This scared the gods, so they attempted to shackle him in fetters that he would never break free from.”
“And which god was willing to do so?” he asked, his voice brittle as a leaf touched by winter.
“Only Tyr was willing to do it, for he had raised Fenrir from a suckling pup. Of all the Aesir, only Tyr knew how to keep his emotions in check, for the blood of Jotenheim ran in his veins. The gods went to the dwarves and had them fashion a chain that would hold the dread wolf, as all other normal chains had failed. And so, they presented the chain, Deceiver, to the wolf, but he was not fooled. Fenrir declared that he would only allow the gods to place him into bondage if one of them would put their hand in this muzzle as a show that they would not break their oaths. Only Tyr was willing to do so, for he loved Fenrir.”
“None among the Nine Worlds were more honorable than Tyr.”
“Yes, Papa. And so, Tyr placed his hand into the mouth of the dread wolf, and he was bound. Tyr sacrificed his hand and his honor. Then, his power grew weaker, for he had betrayed Fenrir and his word was no longer honorable.”
“Yes, yes, and tell me…” He paused to draw in a rattling breath. I squeezed my eyes tight, pulling up a vision of the man my father had been just two years ago. Robust, tall, wide as a ship, loud as a raging bull. A man every man admired. Athletic, proud, regal in his bearing. The man who had taught me to skate before I could walk properly. “Tell me what that story means to you, Tyr.”
Tears ran down my cheeks as the breathing machines inflated his weak lungs. “It means that a man must never break his word to those he loves, lest his power wane. For if you break an oath, your strength will pass to the tree-hung-one and you will be forgotten.”
“That is right.” He scratched my head, his long, brittle nails scoring my scalp. “You must never break your word to me, Tyr. You must honor me as I have asked. You must take care of your mother…” He stopped to breath. His time was short, Mama said. I sniffed up a tear, the salt burning my nose. “You must be the man that walks in my place. Live my dream for me. Marry well. Fill up this house with children. Tend to your mother. Hold the Cup over your head. See that our name is engraved on its side. Do it for me, Tyr, for I have fallen short of my goals, but you are strong. You are the strongest of them all.”
“Yes, Papa, I will do what you could not.”
V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, walking, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee.
(Not necessarily in that order.)
She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, a flock of assorted domestic fowl, and two Jersey steers.
When not writing spicy romances, she enjoys spending her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in hand.
EMAIL: vicki@vllocey.com
The Viking & the Drag Queen #1
Campo Royale Series
