The Mercenary
The War Chronicles, #1
by Petra Landon
Publication date: August 25th
2017
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance,
Science Fiction
BLURB
She’s a prisoner of the Imperial
Forces. He’s a nomad with a private mercenary army. Can a desperate girl’s
risky gamble and a fierce warrior’s love turn the tide of war and alter the
balance of power in their slice of space?
In a distant corner of the
galaxy, Quadrant Five burns in the flames of a deadly war. The Budheya people
are one of the worst affected. Once the most advanced civilization in the
quadrant, they now struggle under the cruel yoke of Ketaari occupation.
Saakshi
Imprisoned by the Ketaari
Imperial Forces, a young Budheya girl is sent to a distant space station to
work in an alehouse. For a girl who has known only hardship in her short life,
things could be worse. Until an old foe walks into the alehouse.
Zoran
Zoran is Hadari’Kor – notorious
across star systems for their prowess in battle. Their fierce reputation allows
them to retain their independence, even as others are forced to choose sides in
the war. Drawn to a weary-eyed server girl, Zoran is forced to confront age-old
traditions and question his role in the war.
The Prisoner & The Mercenary
Alone, friendless and far from
home, Saakshi makes a desperate gamble to trust a formidable and enigmatic
stranger whose hot gaze haunts her dreams. The fallout from this improbable
pact reverberates across space. As a relentless enemy hunts her, Zoran must
fight to protect Saakshi through a minefield of shifting alliances. When
passion ignites amidst the embers of a smoldering war, will a warrior’s quest
for justice bring a mighty Empire to its knees …
Author’s Note :
A spirited and resilient girl, a fierce warrior with a conscience, a fiery
passion that flares amidst the debris of a deadly war and a love that will
alter the fate of an entire quadrant forms the tale of The Mercenary,
a standalone story that sets the scene for The War Chronicles –
a collection of SciFi Romance & Space Opera tales with romance,
swashbuckling adventure & a sprinkling of action.
EXCERPT:
He
swam towards the shore, wading out of the water to where she sat watching him.
Saakshi watched her large warrior arise unhurriedly from the tranquil lake, the
water spearing off his hard body causing his myriad colorful tattoos to gleam
brightly on his gray skin in the light reflected off the plasma torches. He
shook his head gracefully, sending an arc of water off his dark hair. The
scattered droplets hung over him like a short-lived halo around his large
muscled frame. Saakshi stared at him, frozen in place and unable to take her
eyes off him. In that moment suspended in time, to the young Budheya girl
gazing up in awe at her warrior, it felt as if the Pura herself had sent
him for her – her own personal guardian angel charging in when she’d needed him
the most. “Like what you see?” inquired the husky voice she remembered so well
from before.
Saakshi
flushed, looking away from those molten dark eyes.
He
came down gracefully on one knee beside her, gloriously unselfconscious in his
nakedness.
“I
do, too. Like what I see, that is” he said scratchily, his voice like
sandpaper.
He
used a large finger to gently nudge her chin until she met his eyes.
“You
have me at your feet, tseriya.
I hope you will show mercy.”
Lost
momentarily in the burning eyes and mesmerized by the husky voice, Saakshi
realized dazedly that he seemed to be kneeling before her. She scrambled up
with a muffled sob to throw her arms around him, smothering his face and neck
with little kisses.
“Tseriya” he asked, a hint
of uncertainty in his voice. “Why are you crying?”
“I’m
just so happy that you came back” she sobbed into his neck.
“Of
course, I came back” he reiterated in some confusion, trying to dislodge her
from his neck to meet her eyes. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I
thought you were off doing more important stuff now that I was safe with the
Alliance” Saakshi hiccupped into his neck, resisting all his attempts to get
her to meet his eyes.
“Tseriya” he cajoled. “I
could never stay away from you.”
He
cupped the back of her head with one hand.
“Tseriya” he said urgently.
“Haven’t I proved already that I cannot stay away from you? That is what I
cannot forgive myself for.”
It
was the note of despair in his voice that finally got through to Saakshi. She loosened
her clasp around his neck to lean back and scan his expression. A callused
finger brushed away her tears carefully as they spilled over from her eyes but
Saakshi barely noticed the tender gesture. “Forgive yourself? What do you mean
…” she trailed off uncertainly.
He
said nothing, but what she saw in the dark eyes had Saakshi straightening her
spine.
“You
helped a stranger who came to you for assistance. You could have chosen to walk
away. Without you, the Unta-Golar …” she stopped mid-sentence, her words cut
off by the large finger Zoran laid gently across her lips.
The
expression on his handsome face shuttered right before her eyes.
“I’m
no hero, Saakshi” he said steadily. “I shamed myself – I took advantage of a
young and desperate girl.”
It
was Saakshi’s turn to lay a gentle finger on his lips to prevent him from
further self-reproach. “No” she shook her head forcefully. “Nothing happened
between us that I did not want. Believe that if you believe nothing else, Zoran
Hadari-Begur-Kor.”
She
withdrew her finger from his lips. He remained silent but did soften enough to
allow her to see the regret and despair in him.
“You
came for me every single time” she reiterated a tad desperately. “When no else
did.”
Zoran
shook his head, clasping her hand to plant a soft kiss in her palm.
“Yes”
he acknowledged. “But I also took advantage of you.”
Saakshi
shook her head vehemently, desperate to make him believe that she had never
felt coerced into an intimate relationship with him.
“You
… you loved me like no one else had, Zoran” she whispered, shyness and
embarrassment forgotten. “I was drawn to you, even before I went to you. I just
… I was too inexperienced to know it.”
His
expression twisted subtly at her soft admission. “I was not.”
Author Info
An avid reader all her life, only
recently has Petra allowed her own imagination to run riot. She loves to
travel, loves the outdoors and reads everything she can get her hands on, time
permitting. Her taste in books is very eclectic – she tends to like stories
with vivid and quirky characters that have elements of fantasy, adventure,
romance and mystery interspersed together. A good book for her is one that
makes the reader think long after it has been finished and set aside. And, one
that draws the reader back to it, again and again.
To share the tales that have
lived in her imagination for so long is a labor of love and a lifelong dream
come true for her.
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