It’s been
a year since I decided to head down the indie road and publish My Name Is A’yen. The whole A’yen’s Legacy series is wound up in new beginnings in my personal life, and new beginnings in A’yen’s life.
I’ve shared some short excerpts here, and you can read the first chapter here.
A’yen is a slave, as is his entire species. He’s one of the few who knew true love, and how beautiful and freeing it can be. He’s lost it all, and is lost in his grief when he meets Fae.
The heroine, Fae, is also looking for a sort of new beginning. She’s on a mission to find A’yen’s homeworld so she can make the family she’s always wanted. The last thing she’s looking for is to fall in love with the smart-ass slave she bought to protect her.
When Fae walks into his life, she brings a new beginning with her. One he’s not sure he wants, but has no choice about accepting. So he does. Kicking and screaming, but he does it.
This new beginning brings with it one they didn’t expect: the possibility of freedom for A’yen’s people. A’yen is willing to sacrifice the possibility of a happily ever after with Fae to make sure his people know freedom.
He did what he did best and faded into the background while Dr. Hart finished giving instructions. None of them applied to him anyway. She turned to him and he followed her back into the main room and set about gathering the things he’d need to measure the grid so he could lay out the base map.
Twenty minutes later all nineteen of them, counting him, left base camp. He remained up front with Dr. Hart despite the looks from some of the others. Part of his job was to keep her safe and, breeder’s daughter or not, he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t live up to his designation of protector. Even without having had those instincts enhanced when he was marked the first time, he’d still do it.
The group hiked for two miles through pristine forests painted with hues of purple, blue, orange, yellow, and red. Trying to capture the play of color had stymied him last time. Maybe with more time he’d figure out how to transfer it to paper. Here and there along the path, white flowers stretched for the sun. Still no bird song.
Like last time, the presence of pathways and what might have been roads surprised him. It was almost as if the planet held its breath, waiting for someone to return. These little details were things not even the best scans picked up. Mapping these almost roads could be useful, especially if Dr. Hart found evidence of a past civilization.
A growing part of him wanted her to succeed.
The path forked and they went left. Trees parted and another meadow stretched before them, the biggest one on this part of the continent, and a logical place to start looking for evidence of a city or village. Here and there stone pillars pointed to the sky. A rainbow of flowers covered every inch of the meadow. The earth-moving equipment covered the southeast corner of the meadow.
“I wish we didn’t have to get rid of these flowers to excavate. They’re so beautiful.”
One eyebrow lifted at the sorrow in her voice. “From what I remember, they’re fairly common.”
She looked at him then, a hint of a smile chasing across her face. “When you grow up on a desert world, there’s nothing fairly common about wildflowers.” Kneeling, she bent her head and inhaled the perfume wafting from the flowers.
So many contradictions wrapped up in this bundle named Farran Hart.
My Name Is A’yen, book 1 of A’yen’s Legacy
They’ve taken everything from him. Except his name.
The Loks Mé have been slaves for so long, freedom is a distant myth A’yen Mesu no longer believes. A year in holding, because of his mater’s murder, has sucked the life from him. Archaeologist Farran Har buys him to protect her on an expedition to the Rim, the last unexplored quadrant of the galaxy.
Farran believes the Loks Mé once lived on the Rim, and is determined to prove it. And win A’yen’s trust. But she’s a breeder’s daughter and can’t be trusted.
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