Summary
In the aftermath of betrayal, dust is settling. The San cannot rest as they take more responsibility defending Earth. Meanwhile, Connor must endure immeasurable physical pain as her abilities grow stronger, both through fights and brutal combat training of The San, for they must prepare for what’s coming: war.
Connor’s loyalties are questioned as her actions are put to the test. She is forced to make harsh decisions against the Elders' disapproval when the world around her crumbles. Ultimately, one decision will seal her fate.
Ether
This foreign planet known for its unyielding cruelty is where Willow now resides. Ultimately, she’s forced to confront the actions that put her there. Condemned to continuous battle, she has to overcome her once shallow self and accept the inevitable:: fight or die.
Ronin is back, and on a mission no one else knows about. The very one closest to him is Connor, his mortal enemy. Neither is willing to accept their destiny, yet compelled by it. Will enemies become allies, or battle to the death?
Excerpt
I woke to the sound of strange voices, clinking noises and brightness. I was too groggy to grasp my surroundings but I was alert enough to know that I was strapped down on a flat surface unable to move. A tube was down my throat holding it open, forcing air in to me. It was impossible to speak. I felt movement inside my right leg as someone wearing a mask dug into me.I thought I was already in hell until someone pulled a skinny, brown parasite the size of a baby garden snake out of me, wiggling for freedom. Some odd creature grabbed the parasite and threw it into a glass container housing others like it.
Did those come out of me?
This must be a nightmare. This couldn’t be happening. I squirmed in alarm but a syringe filled with clear liquid was pushed into a tube running into my arm, forcing me back to unconsciousness.
I woke up in a bed, an actual bed. Mine? Could all of this have been a nightmare? Attempting to get up, I was forced to accept that this was not a nightmare but my new reality. It wasn’t a familiar room and for some odd reason, I could only see out of my left eye.
“Don’t move. You will make things worse,” said a man to the right of me but I could not see him. He moved to stand next to the bed so I could. It was Ronin.
“I have seen better but you’re not too dire.” He examined me as if I were in a glass showcase.
I was still groggy but I wanted to scream at him for doing this to me. Then I remembered who he was. Royalty. I tried to speak but my throat was sore. My eyes watered from the discomfort.
“Is she awake, sir?” a woman asked, walking in from an adjoining room with a small marble bowl.
“Yes,can you make her better than this?”He gestured towards me.
“If not we will have to dispose of her.”
Dispose of me?
I struggled to get up but Ronin effortlessly pushed me back down “She is weak. Put her to sleep and call me when she is stronger.”
“Yes, my Lord.” The woman curtseyed.
Ronin nodded at her then walked out the room. That was the last thing I remembered before falling back to sleep.
The pain in my right arm woke me. It was the woman I’d seen before.
“How are you feeling today?”She had an accent but hes was faint, unlike the Goth woman’s thick dialect. Hers sounded different. Even though she was a pretty woman her face was pursed when shes poke. “Where am I?” I asked between dry lips. “Right where you are supposed to be,” she answered. “How are you?”
“I want to go home.”I felt terrible but I just wanted to go. Why were they trying to fix me up?
“You are home,”the woman said, preparing a concoction for me to drink. It looked part mud and part grass.
“No, my home on Earth. Don’t be rude,” I said to the woman, who was obviously the help.
“Sit up,” she ordered, handing me the drink; what must be considered medication here.
“No, I want to go home.” I slapped her hand away, knocking the drink to the floor.
She grabbed my right arm and twisted it and I cried out for her to stop. “Then you shouldn’t have given in to treachery. I will not ask again, simply send for Ronin and let him decide what’s best for you from here on out.” She untwisted my arm, freeing me.
“How could you? I’m sick. I can’t get up,” I whined, feeling some what humiliated that's he knew about me. Who else knew?
“You have done so before with my help but now try on your own.” I sat up and realized I had sight in both eyes. How many days had I been there?The room was dim but I could make out the outline of a humble bedroom with a nightstand, a couch to my left next to a closed curtain and a dresser. A far cry from the comforts of my room.
Pain radiated up my right arm but I didn’t care. I was relieved to have full sight. The fact that I could see was enough to make me stand. Although I was still a little weak I was stronger than in the cell; I managed it on my own.“Can I look at myself in a mirror?”
“I would not advise that at this time.”
“Why?” “Walk to the door then back to me.”She ignored me for the second time.
“Why?” I refused to budge until she answered me. She mumbled something in that same foreign tongue she and Ronin spoke then slapped a mirror in my left hand.
I fell to the floor when the mirror showed me as a monster.
Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars By Nicole Reads
"This by far was the best in the Connor series. And that's saying a lot since the first book was so good. I didn't think the author could top it! I loved Connor and Ronin but then again the love triangle with Tony still has me rooting for him."
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Series! By JGRWriter
These sound like interesting reads. I'm purchasing book 1 now!
ReplyDeleteThanks Amarie. I hope you enjoy is even though book 2 stole a little more of my heart.
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