Warlord Reunited, the fourth standalone story in the Chamele Barbarian Warlords series, is releasing on February 18th.
Last week, I shared the first scene from the first chapter.
You can read that scene here:
http://tasteofcyn.com/?p=7056
This week I’m sharing the second scene of that first chapter.
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Berke rolled back his shoulders. A loud crack reverberated through the space. That action didn’t ease the weight bearing down on him, didn’t dissipate the tension that was slowly coiling tighter and tighter around him.
The jagged shards of ice piercing his core no longer alleviated the pressure either. That excruciating pain was always there, reminding him his gerel wasn’t by his side. He’d become accustomed to the hurt.
More was needed. He glanced around him. Some of his favorite weapons were displayed on the walls. A tinge of regret tugged at him. His Ellie would rave over the new additions. She shared his love for unique killing instruments.
He could picture her slender fingers wrapped around the handles, the sparkle in her big brown eyes as she tested them. Zondoo. He had to leave the chambers he’d once shared with her before he lost his renowned composure.
Rejoining his warriors didn’t appeal to him. He was too wound up, too close to breaking. They were loyal and skilled, deserved the cool, rational leader they expected. He couldn’t give them that right now.
Leaving the underground was a better option. He donned his furs, layering the garments over his form. Holsters and sheaths were strapped to his waist, his arms, his legs. They were filled with guns and blades, an assortment of weapons.
He opened a wall compartment, paused, gazing at its contents. Another stratum of stress settled on his chest.
Two swords in leather sheaths were stored there. One was wide and long and heavy. The other was thinner and shorter and lighter, yet no less deadly…like his gerel.
Berke ran his fingertips along the smaller weapon’s sheath. It was fashioned from the finest materials he could find. An image of a solar eclipse was imprinted on it. Rays of a solitary sun illuminated the curves of the moon, light emerging after a brief duration of darkness.
He craved that brilliance, that heat. The sheath had taken him almost a solar cycle to craft. The twenty-three previous attempts hadn’t met his severe specs. The bindings hadn’t been strong or straight enough. The images hadn’t the precision of the final version.
His fingers drifted over the hilt of the sword. The metal warmed to his touch, seemed as alive as his Ellie, its intended recipient.
Horologium carbide was coveted by warriors throughout the universe, was the best material to construct blades. Berke had sourced enough of it for the fabrication of the two swords, had that precious compound conveyed to the most skilled weapons designer alive, an elderly Silian female who had dedicated her long lifespan solely to that craft.
His lips lifted slightly. The result was perfection. It was a flawless sword for a flawless female. His Ellie would love it.
And she would be the first being to wield it. He reluctantly lifted his hands from the smaller blade, grasped the larger one.
That weapon was his. It was identical in design, would have been a joy to handle if he could still experience pleasure.
That emotion required a functional heart. His was frozen, had been enclosed by ice from the moment he and his gerel had parted.
The holder for his sword was much older, had been worn by time, battered by past battles. He could, and would, never replace it. The sheath had been constructed by his father, the previous Warlord.
That male had been a great leader, a loving parent, and Berke missed him.
His gaze shifted to the smaller sword. His losses, both temporary and permanent, haunted him. The tension inside him increased to unbearable levels.
He had to expel it. In private. Where no one could see or hear him. As he stalked across the chamber, he strapped his sword to his back.
His warriors were also aware he had found his gerel. Most of them assumed he’d somehow survived her death.
Berke preferred they believed that. If everyone thought his gerel was dead, unscrupulous enemies wouldn’t use her existence against him. They couldn’t hurt her, kill her.
The stress he was under threatened to break him. He sealed his emotions under a chilly mask, placed one of his palms on the control panel.
The doors opened, revealing two Chamele guards. They stepped aside.
Berke strode forward.
Jochi, his second, waited in the hallway. His best warrior’s expression was as studiously blank as his own was.
“My lord.” The male fell into place beside him, matching his pace.
They marched up the incline, heading toward one of the less-utilized entrances to the underground settlement.
It was the passageway his Ellie had preferred. She believed it to be her own and he had allowed her to think that.
Zondoo. He had to focus, had to stop thinking about her. That was one of the reasons he’d sent her to safety. When she was around him, he couldn’t hold another thought in his head.
That was dangerous…for her, for him, for the beings under his protection.
***
Read the next scene (available February 3rd) here:
http://tasteofcyn.com/?p=7062
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Warlord Reunited
This barbarian warrior’s cold demeanor hides the warmest of hearts.
* * *
Solar cycles ago, Berke, a savage Chamele Warlord, found his gerel, the one being he is destined to be with for all time…except he couldn’t embrace that fate. He was fighting a series of brutal wars.
To protect his little human female, he conveyed her far from the Chamele sector. He then returned to the endless battles, concealing his pain, his anguish, his need, under a thick layer of ice.
His gerel was safe. That was all that mattered to him.
When Elle was a young bounty hunter, she bonded with an arrogant warrior on a distant planet. She was deliriously happy…for a while. Then he dumped her in a strange settlement far from his home and left, never to return.
Their parting caused her excruciating pain—both physical and emotional. She endured it, earned the esteemed role of head bounty hunter of an academy, salvaged a bit of a life from the disaster her primitive warrior had made of it.
Now, two of her bounty hunters have made the same terrible mistake. Elle is determined to rescue her friends and break their connections with their Chamele Warlords.
While she is in the sector, she plans to kill the warrior she’d once considered hers. Elle is ending her relationship with Berke…permanently.
* * *
Warlord Reunited is based on a much shorter story sharing the same title.
It is a STANDALONE Alien Barbarian SciFi Romance featuring a warrior hero and a take-charge heroine set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
Pre-order Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082RM76RF
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B082RM76RF
Apple/iTunes:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/warlord-reunited/id1491702046
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/warlord-reunited-cynthia-sax/1116110455
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/warlord-reunited-1
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/995680
