Our motley crew of teenaged space pirates and scavengers are back with Tamn (Heaven’s Edge #3)!
Just one more week before the BIG RELEASE and our return to Heaven’s Edge. It’s been a four-year-journey bringing this sequel to life. Thanks to Editor Jessica Augustsson of JayHenge Publishing and the stellar efforts of Stacey at Champagne Formats, final editions have been submitted and are ready to fly.
Meanwhile, enjoy the latest teaser!
Tamn: Heaven’s Edge #3 Teaser
I tripped on my bad leg when I tried to run out the door. Cursing, I moved as quickly as I could in the direction Qori had been looking at before, trusting my instincts to guide me to Qeya. I had been seeking her in every past life I could remember.
Others called my name, but I picked up my pace, determined to outrun them no matter how much it jarred my ruined flesh.
I ducked as I entered the small hut and stumbled against the foot of the bed she lay prostrate in. I couldn’t breathe. Movement at the corner of my eye brought my instincts to life. Sidestepping into the shadows, I grabbed the miner’s arm, twisting it at a painful angle behind his back.
Ohre, they’d called him. The miner wasn’t as tall as me, but he was built thickly of miner muscle and the deep growls coming from his chest sounded too possessive for my liking.
“What did you do to her!” I demanded as I placed my free hand at a nerve point at the base of his neck. All miners were sensitive here. I had been trained all my lives on how to defeat our oldest and worst enemy.
Ohre stiffened but did not fight back, merely spat with a heavily accented voice, “She be alive because of me.”
I hesitated, my sister’s warning slipping back to me. “Ohre—saved us, saved her numerous times.”
Qeya moaned in her sleep and I released the miner to reach her side. I took her cold hand in mine. Her golden lashes fluttered against her cheek as she shifted slightly as if in pain. I held her hand tighter and lowered my head to whisper, “I am here, love. I will always be here.”
The furrows in her brow smoothed and she relaxed against her pillow.
“You be Tamn, aye?” Ohre spoke suddenly and I fought the urge to end him then and there.
He saved their lives. He has earned our honor and respect, my father’s voice cautioned.
The miner spoke again, his words slow and heavy, “She speaks your name often in her sleep. You mated?”
“We were, long before you were born. We will be again.” The words were a mantra I had chanted often since the crash but fell flat against my ears. I twisted my head to face the miner. He stood off in the corner, green eyes bright against his dark skin. “We belong to each other. Can you understand that?” I needed him to agree as much as I needed to forget Adi’s skin against mine.
Ohre said nothing for a long time, but seemed to weigh me in his fierce gaze. Something was different about this miner. He spoke as though the words had not been first on his tongue and the tattoos covering his head and running down his neck were chaotic to be familiar. A distant memory pricked at the back of my mind, but I pushed the voice back before it could cloud my judgement. I needed to be Tamn from now on.
Finally, the miner replied, “You do not deserve her…but neither do I.”
By all rights, I could have ended him for challenging my claim on Qeya. It had been written in stone the day she was born. We had been together countless lifetimes before that, always falling together, ever pulled apart. But all I could think of was how right the miner was. The rules that molded me into who I was no longer applied and I wasn’t sure if they had been right to begin with.
Did I even want the life my elders had mapped out for me? After losing my purpose, my sanity, especially after what I had done with Adi…
I swallowed and nodded. “Thank you for keeping her safe.”
Ohre kept his unwavering gaze on me a beat longer before shifting his attention to Qeya. A softening eased the harsh corners of his face before he turned and slipped out of the hut. I couldn’t help but look after him and question myself for the second time this day.
Was he right? Did I deserve to hope or expect this from her? We had loved one another as long as I could remember, even when we were children, before I remembered what love was. But was it fair to her now, after all we had been through, to force her into a life she never wanted? And what if she didn’t love me like I thought? What if my love made her into something as twisted as I had become on this planet?
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Jennifer Silverwood 