If you missed the first part of Chapter One, you can find it HERE. Today I'll be posting Chapter One Part Two of Thorn Changer. If you want to see the copyright/disclaimer page, go to the Amazon page and click on the picture of Thorn Changer for the Look Inside option, and scroll up (this also gives you a chance to see the beautiful detail of the cover).
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Excerpt from Thorn Changer by Christy Reed
Reisika played with the stem of her wine glass, filled with
grape juice, of course, as she watched her father pace the room. His eyebrows
drew toward his arched nose, as his mouth tightened into a narrow line. “Where
are those bumbling idiots? They should have been back by now. How long could it
possibly take them?”
Like usual, their weekly dinner together had been reduced to
his barely acknowledging her as he worked. And like usual, she had no idea what
he was talking about.
“Daddy,” she tried to keep the impatience out of her voice, “I’m
sure whoever it is will get here soon. Why don’t you sit down and eat?”
He didn’t even glance at her. Had he even heard her? Reisika
looked from his half-eaten plate of food to her own barely touched one. She
didn’t even know why they bothered any more. Her mother had insisted on these
meals together, insisted that Reisika’s father take one evening away from
worrying over empire affairs and attend to his family. But she was long dead
now. Ever since Reivitae had been killed, these meals had become tortuous.
He glanced at the clock, and turned away with disgust. “Eight
o’clock already. They should’ve been back hours ago! How long do they expect me
to wait? I still have to prepare my notes for meeting with the emperor
tomorrow.”
Reisika sighed again, and shoved her plate away. She
motioned to the serving girl by the door to clear the table. Dinner was over,
if it had ever really begun at all. Her father was once again lost to her,
caught up in the never-ending work of keeping Arilan safe.
Sometimes she wished the emperor had chosen someone else. As
Commander of the Imperial Guard, her father answered to only the council and
the imperial family. It was a great honor to bestow on the second son of one of
the high nobles. But Reisika couldn’t help thinking quite bitterly that, if he
had become one of her uncle’s right hands, instead of the emperor’s, he would
have more time for her. Not to mention her brother wouldn’t have died.
“Those morons. They just better hope they’ve actually caught
her when they finally show their sorry faces.”
“Caught who, Daddy?”
Her father stopped midpace and turned to look at her. Once
again, he’d forgotten she was still here. His face tightened a little, as his
left eyebrow twitched. “Never mind, Reisika. It’s getting late. You better be
off now.”
She sipped her grape juice. “Since when is eight late? At
the emperor’s palace, we’d barely have gone in to dinner by this time.”
A knock sounded at the door. Her father turned from her, and
scowled at it. “Didn’t I tell the servants we weren’t to be disturbed? The
fools. Can’t even get a simple order straight.” He yelled at the door. “Leave
me alone. I told all of you miserable loafers I wasn’t to be bothered with your
petty nonsense.”
“But, my lord,” Slo’s muffled voice sounded through the
lock, “I thought we were to report to you when we got back.”
Reisika almost dropped her goblet. Slo? What was he doing
here? Hadn’t her father sent him off on some errand? To check on that miserable
creature, wasn’t it? “I thought you sent him to the Tower, Daddy. How’d he get
back already?”
Her father, once again, ignored her. He almost smiled. “Took
them long enough.” He went to the door, and threw it open. “So there you are at
last. You sure took your time about it.”
Sure enough, Reisika could just make out the squat form
behind her father’s tall frame. Slo bowed, almost falling flat on his face. “It
was necessary, Lord Cinote. We returned as soon as we could.”
“Good, good,” Cinote turned his back to him and motioned him
forward into the room. He stopped as he noticed Reisika still sitting at the
table. “Reisika? I thought you’d gone off to bed.”
“I told you, Daddy, it’s only eight o’clock. Only grannies
go to bed at this time.”
Cinote waved his hand. “Ridiculous. A child your age needs
her sleep.”
Reisika sighed. “The only fourteen-year-old girls who go to
bed at this time are invalids.”
Cinote waved his hand. “Off with you, now; I need to discuss
important matters.”
She thought about arguing, but stopped, and walked out of
the room. When the door had closed behind her, she stooped and peered through
the key hole. What had Slo’s real mission been? If he had really been sent to
check on that monster in the Tower, he wouldn’t have been back for another week.
Cinote turned back to Slo. “Now, where’s that beast? I hope
you made sure to secure her.”
Slo swallowed hard. “Um, my lord, I…we—”
“Yes?” Cinote turned back to him. “Well now, out with it. Where
is she? In which of my dungeons did you put her?”
Slo fingered the paper in his hands. Cinote frowned. “Well? Where
is she?”
“I don’t know, my lord.”
“What do you mean ‘I don’t know’?”
“She’s escaped from us, my lord. She used that wretched
curse of hers, and slipped from our grasp.” The paper rattled as he tried to
unfold it. “We did manage to find this, though. It—”
Cinote dashed the sheet from his hands. Reisika tried to
make out the writing on it as it fluttered to the floor. “You idiots. What do I
care for a scrap of garbage, when that creature roams free? You blockheads
couldn’t even do something as simple as catch a child of fifteen.”
Escaped? A chill went around her neck, strangling her. He
couldn’t mean…
“But, my lord, this paper might help—”
“Help what? Help to draw a map which you fools will get lost
with? Help to plan the next scheme you idiots will bungle? The only use that
paper has is for a death warrant to sever your fat head from your body.”
“But, my lord, I think you should see it.” He had retrieved
the paper, and his hand shook as he held it out to Cinote. “I think it tells
where she’s headed.”
Cinote snatched it from him. Reisika shoved her face against
the wood, trying to see. It was a map of some sorts. A map of the continents,
it looked like. Was Beolki circled?
Cinote folded the parchment with a chuckle. “Ah, so she
thinks to escape, does she? She thinks she can just leave her sins behind her?”
He started to the door. Reisika scrambled to her feet and
slipped around the corner. She peered back. Her father and Slo headed down the
other hall, conversing in tones so low she couldn’t hear. Her heart pounding in
her ears would have blocked out their words anyway.
The Form Changer had escaped.
Her brother’s murderer was free.
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That's the end of Chapter One Part Two. I hope you enjoyed it. For right now, Thorn Changer is available exclusively on Amazon. Feel free to share this excerpt, just please include all text between the asterisks (* * *), as well as a link to Thorn Changer's Amazon page. This will give your viewers a link to where they can purchase Thorn Changer if they're interested. Thanks.Chapter One Part Three will be available tomorrow.
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