As promised, here are six non-explicit paragraphs of Moro’s Shield, the sequel to Moro’s Price. I offer no explanations of the action, or any promise that the published version will even look like this. It’s why they call these rough drafts, or Works in Progress, after all…
***
“Ready?” asked the Ambassador. “Val, you need to give me that belt. It’s too distinctive. This has to look like a genuine prisoner transfer, I’m afraid. It should divert attention for a little while.”
Val obediently reached toward his toolbelt.
Moro felt the skin crawl on the back of his neck. The heavy jointed-metal bonds in the Ambassador’s hands did not look fake. That was the point. But Moro had worn enough restraint cuffs over the years to know when they were active, primed to be electronically locked down. Ready to stun more-resistant victims into motionless submission. His Val might be a genius at slithering out of such things, but Alys had to have planned for that, too.
Val went nowhere without that belt.
“Shit”, said Cama in Moro’s mind. “She blocked me! Or Liatana did…”
Moro moved fluidly past Val, pushing him back into the stateroom, then kicked the bonds up out of Alys’s hands. She was nearly ready for him, her face going hard and cold, her body weighting itself to balance a return kick. Moro beat her to it, spinning her knee aside and hammering up inside her guard to land a solid side-chop on her unshielded right jaw. She might be an ex-soldier, a killer, and her empress’s chief weapon. Even hampered by bulky clothing, Moro was younger, stronger, bigger, and faster.
***
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What an enjoyable peek! Great eye for detail.
Thanks!
This excerpt has me wondering about the shifting alignments and loyalties I’m going to read about when Moro’s Shield is released. 🙂 Thanks!
It will be a shorter book, Lorna (I can already hear sighs of relief from some folks!) Editors willing, it will be just as fast a roller coaster ride as the first one. Oh, and that station ‘interview’ – might have to be re-written slightly.
Shorter? Nooooo! I loved the epic length of Moro’s Price. I was so swept up in the story it didn’t seem that long. It seems to me there is a shift toward shorter novels these days. Do people really dislike spending more than a single evening with a novel?
Awwww. Thank you so much for loving it! I had massive fun writing the first one (which says disturbing things about my brain, I suspect).
I get you – I adore gigantic books. But then, I wandered into romance from fantasy and science fiction, where 130K books are more common. My publisher wants a slightly shorter book so it can come in at a lower price point, which is good for all of us.
But I promise the plot won’t suffer on the new one. For the readers who’ve stuck with me during the two hellish years when Real Life got in the way of my writing, I’m also still planning on a short, sweet, and raunchy reward: the spinoff novella where Mateo gets Jason. Or Jason gets Mateo. The boys are currently unclear about it.