Twins! Who me? Impossible. I can’t be having twins! -- #Taboo #Twins #Giveaway

By Bianca Swan (Guest Blogger)

If your ultrasound shows two little bundles of joys, then you are carrying twins. Two names to think of. Two strollers or one-double. One each arm. Two bottles or two tits. Two cribs, two college tuitions. Oh, but I digress. Here goes: If offspring are identical, they are monozygotic, which means they develop from one zygote that splits and forms two embryos. If they are not identical, they are dizygotic ('fraternal'), meaning that each embryo develops from a separate egg and each egg is fertilized by different sperm cell.

At any rate, the rate of monozygotic twins remains at about 1 in 333 across the globe. Chances are slim on those identical babies keeping you up all night.

That’s about as technical as I want to get or you want me to get, I suspect. I will add this, which I found interesting:

Then, I came to a chimera. In Greek mythology, a chimera is a fire-breathing female monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. Wikipedia, in their “twins” article, said it “is an ordinary person or animal except that some of their parts actually came from their twin or from the mother. A chimera may arise either from monozygotic twin fetuses (where it would be impossible to detect), or from dizygotic fetuses, which can be identified by chromosomal comparisons from various parts of the body. The number of cells derived from each fetus can vary from one part of the body to another, and often leads to characteristic mosaicism skin coloration in human chimeras. A chimera may be intersex, composed of cells from a male twin and a female twin. In one case DNA tests determined that a woman, mystifyingly, was not the mother of two of her three children; she was found to be a chimera, and the two children were conceived from eggs derived from cells of their mother's twin.”

If you want to learn more about twins, my reference is Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin

My twins are an impossibility, and therein lies the plot. The characters’ motivation is another layer in the story. The fantasy setting? When I thought of Alastair Keep, I pictured St. Michael’s Mount off the coast of England. The twins started talking to me early one morning, after a night on South Beach, and the original draft was written in purple pen on a legal pad.

Her Brother’s Wife (named by the publisher—my title was Gemini Rising) is a dark psychological novel dealing with a controversial subject in a fantasy setting, much like Cersei and Jamie in “Game of Throne”.

Blurb

From birth, Alain and Alina Alastair are a scientific phenomenon—identical male/female twins—a biological impossibility. Wishing to avoid notoriety, Lord and Lady Alastair whisk their miracle children to their island home isolated by a two-hour ferry journey from the mainland of England. It is at Alastair Keep that their destiny unfolds to the constant percussion of a restless sea.

As a young man, Alain craves escape from the seclusion while Alina more willingly follows her heart. Unaware, they struggle with a genetic proclivity, the Gemini Factor, that will lead them down the farther, forbidden paths. The secrets at Alastair Keep will undermine the foundations of their world and indeed threaten their very lives.

Excerpt

Alain tucked the in-flight magazine into the seat pocket and gazed out the window. The distance from one life to another vanished with the clouds fleeing beneath silver wings. The new 777-200 transported him from a sunlit future to a misty past…from a black-haired beauty to a fair-haired princess. Sunlight broke through cloud striking steel, blinding him for an instant.

Someone was going to get hurt.

Already he hurt—a low throbbing like a toothache. If he returned to Portugal, Alina would be devastated. His father would disown him. If he picked up his discarded heritage, a part of him would die and Maritza would grieve. For a time. He wasn’t vain enough to think she’d pine for him forever`.

The choice lay in his hands.

Damn, life got complicated when he tried to declare independence from The Keep. He shifted his long legs cramped beneath the airline seat. He preferred not to think, but fragments of memory plagued the corners of his eyes.

A vivid picture of Alina supplanted images of recent days drenched white-hot by a Portuguese sun. His twin’s presence was more corporeal than the woman sitting to his left. Welcome or not, Alina was there inside him, the mere thought of her a compulsion. He sensed her anticipation mounting as the miles melted. Expectation tingled over him. In self defense, he grasped at a memory of riding the splendid Lusitano stallions, their beauty and majesty a temporary refuge. Like Maritza. As he pictured his lover framed in an arbor of roses, his heart dived. Grief mingled inseparably with the mounting excitement.

His seat mate muttered something. He smiled vaguely at the tiny movie screen where imaginary figures acted out their roles. The film would end happily; every desire fulfilled. He hated the silver screen people. Things never turned out right—except in the movies.

The roar of jet engines and the spattering of conversation became a distant echo. Alina was journeying. When his sister took flight, despite the distance, she’d lead him down the path her imagination chose. Alina had always been the leader. Or is that a cop out to ease my own guilt? He laid his head back on the seat and closed his eyes. Why fight the inevitable?

The rumble of the sea surrounded him. July sunshine warmed his face. The light of home was different from any other place, diffused, like sunlight filtered through a special camera lens. He stood on the top tier of the formal garden, looking down on another sweeping flagstone terrace. A brisk waterfall sprang from an aperture in rock to feed the swan pond. Even in summer the water rippled clear, green, cool.

Buy Link

https://www.lotscave.com/ebooks/author/bianca-swan.php

Check out my other books there too!

About Bianca

Bianca lives in deep in Dixie with her characters and other friends visit. She has two children of whom she is extremely proud. She loves horses, sports cars, travel, theater, symphony and a very few TV programs, including Lucifer. News on the sports car front: This spring she handed in her Peter Pan shoes, trading a hot racy car for an SUV. She still believes in the power of love—and the power of lust—and enjoys delving into the soul of both the l-words, bringing to life hot men and the hot women who love them.

Website: http://www.BiancaSwan.com

Blog: https://wordpress.com/stats/day/biancaswanblog.wordpress.com

LADIES AND GENTS, LEAVE A COMMENT WITH YOUR EMAIL! BIANCA IS GIVING AWAY A $10 GIFT CARD TO BUY SOMETHING FOR YOUR TWINS.